Her Voice Blog

Ace Hardware has introduced a new ad campaign a line of premium paints and as a public relations firm specialized in marketing to women, it definitely caught our attention. The line is called Clark+Kensington and it combines paint with primer, comes in 120 colors and can be custom-tinted in almost any shade.

However, this isn't what made us take notice. The new campaign plays on the idea of Ace being the helpful hardware store. One of the TV spots depicts a woman at the paint chip wall telling the salesman she is "looking for purple. But not like my favorite dress in college kind of purple."

She continues to describe this perfect shade she desires, "kind of like it's raining..." while the salesman brings out a group of men, lineup style who are all different shades of the color she seeks. They continue eliminating, likening her desired color to a dream date by saying "you want the color, but you don't want to be smothered by it." The tagline then reads "Find your soul paint at Ace."

A print ad shows a woman clutching a man, painted and dressed in burnt orange, on a motorcycle. The copy says: “She found her soul paint, Crouching Tiger 4022 ... You’ll find a harmonious color palette ... not to mention help from people who really know their stuff. All so you can finally find that perfect color you can live with for a long time.”

All ads refer viewers to Ace Hardware’s Facebook page for more than 30 humorous videos of interviews with people who personify the new Clark+Kensington shades.

According to Dana Larsen, a brand manager for Ace Hardware, the new advertising, which is “all about romance,” is meant to appeal to women 25 to 44, “who are the primary drivers in the selection of color.”

“Women make the color decision. They’re the ones who struggle with it; they want to not have to make it again for a long time,” she added.

Ace is attempting to take an aspect of its business and create an emotional attachment between the customer and the retailer. Paint, especially a paint color of a person's home is a really personal, emotional thing.

The new campaign attempts to attract people to the store with the hopes of driving a deeper and emotional attachment to the rest of Ace.

Although paint sales might be suffering because of the soft real estate market, they could possibly be improved by the so-called “lipstick or nail polish effect: if I can’t afford to move, I can afford to paint a room.

Additionally, the brand hosted a "Free Paint Saturday" event giving away free quarts of paint at its retail locations across the country.

FletcherPR is a national communications firm that specializes in reaching women through the power of media. Headquartered in Knoxville, TN with staff in Nashville & Los Angeles, we are a full-service agency providing strategic public relations, social media and marketing communications services to our clients throughout the U.S.