Ace Spotlights Iconic Jingle In New "Ace Is The Place" Campaign

OAK BROOK, Ill., March 2, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ace Hardware, the largest retailer-owned hardware cooperative in the world, announced today the launch of a new advertisement campaign. The campaign, created by Chicago advertising agency O'Keefe Reinhard & Paul, leverages the signature "Ace is the place with the helpful hardware folks" jingle, featuring real-life Ace owners and associates and actual Ace customers. With the familiar tune as a backdrop, the jingle's lyrics are customized in humorous and memorable ways to highlight that Ace's exceptional service and expertise, best brands and product selection help consumers succeed with their home maintenance and repair projects.

"With this campaign, we set out to accomplish something that no other retailer or brand can do, showcasing our three greatest differentiators – our people, our brand and our jingle – in a truly authentic way by featuring real Ace customers in real Ace stores, getting real problems solved by real Ace associates," said John Surane, Executive Vice President of Merchandising, Marketing and Sales at Ace Hardware Corporation. "It's unmistakably Ace."

In developing their first campaign with Ace, O'Keefe Reinhard & Paul surveyed over 100 Ace retailers and employees for real-life instances of customer requests and the ways that Ace associates go the extra mile to help their customers. The team selected a variety of examples to demonstrate how Ace helps its customers tackle lawn and garden projects, paint selection, bug infestations, and more.

"We set out to capture the one-of-a-kind authenticity of Ace's helpfulness – and found it in the relationships and stories of real customers and Ace employees," explained Tom O'Keefe, CEO of O'Keefe Reinhard & Paul. "For us, putting a new twist on the iconic jingle was the perfect way to bring this authenticity to life."

Launching today on television, audio and digital channels nationwide, the campaign features more than 30 videos filmed at three Ace stores in Houston, Orlando and Chicago, using a cast of 25 actual Ace owners and associates and 40 real customers. The ads were developed to support seasonal offerings and sales across focus categories including paint, lighting and lawn and garden, while also showcasing Ace's unique mix of the best brands, such as Craftsman, Scotts, Valspar and Weber.

The campaign includes more than 25 unique 15 and 30-second spots that will air nationally on major television networks including CBS, USA Network, HGTV, Food Network and ESPN, among others. In addition, 15 unique :30 national radio spots will air on terrestrial and streaming radio (Spotify, Pandora) with companion banners. Online videos will be placed with companion banners on Hulu and YouTube with media integrations with Food Network, Animal Planet, 120 Sports, USA Network and DirecTV, among others. The campaign will also be extended across multiple consumer touch points including social media, acehardware.com, store signage, circulars, email, direct mail, and local market TV, audio, and display templates.

To see the debut campaign commercials, please visit https://www.youtube.com/user/acehardware.

About Ace Hardware
For more than 90 years, Ace Hardware has been known as the place with the helpful hardware folks in thousands of neighborhoods across America, providing customers with a more personal kind of helpful. In 2015, Ace ranked "Highest in Customer Satisfaction among Home Improvement Retail Stores, Nine Years in a Row," according to J.D. Power. With more than 4,800 hardware stores locally owned and operated across the globe, Ace is the largest retailer-owned hardware cooperative in the world. Headquartered in Oak Brook, Ill., Ace and its subsidiaries currently operate 17 distribution centers in the U.S. and also have distribution capabilities in Shanghai, China; Panama City, Panama; and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Its retailers' stores are located in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and approximately 60 countries. For more information on Ace, visit acehardware.com.

About O'Keefe Reinhard & Paul
Chicago-based O'Keefe Reinhard & Paul (www.okrp.com) was recently named "Small Agency of the Year" by Advertising Age magazine.  It is a new model advertising agency that delivers big agency brand creativity with startup ingenuity. With its belief that success as a new model agency relies on the ability to be nimble and to bring together the best talent for its clients, O'Keefe Reinhard & Paul has practiced the "high art of selling" on behalf of clients such as Big Lots, YUM! Brands, Ace Hardware and Turtle Wax, among others. The independent agency is supported with minority backing from the Interpublic Group of Companies

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SOURCE Ace Hardware

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