Overview
When it comes to a paint project, Ace is the helpful place for all of your paint project tools and quality paint. To motivate procrastinating DIYers who want to paint a room “someday,” Chicago creative advertising agency OKRP came up with a clever idea for Ace Hardware to declare a single day in the Spring DIY season as “Some Day” – the day Ace will help you finally tackle that paint project.
Challenge
OKPR partnered with M&G to address a key challenge: How to get reputable DIY’ers on social media to proudly show their gratitude to Ace Hardware for its signature help to make ‘Some Day’ finally happen thanks to all of the retailer’s ‘Some Day’ promotional paint offerings. The assignment was to create ‘paint motivation kits’ worthy of social content and media storytelling. It had to look and feel premium, and its contents needed to bring to life the ‘Some Day’ story. Beyond the creative concept challenge, M&G had to ideate within a set budget and also gain client approvals, produce, print and procure all contents within a tight project timeframe.
Solution
We advised OKRP on creative kit design and its interactive contents, providing a detailed menu of all viable options that we confirmed can be produced within the tight project timeline along with guidance on content dimensions / quantities / print quality parameters to stay within budget and achieve the desired ‘premium’ look and feel. We concepted, procured and produced the promotional items – including a paint guide, a keepsake paint tips prop designed as a sturdy paint brush, t-shirts, hat, brushes, and paint swatches – in the kit. The M&G team managed the kit assembly and day-to-day shipments of kits the moment media interest was confirmed and managed a daily shipping tracker.
As the OKRP team realized strong media attention for the campaign, Ace Hardware greenlit the agency’s idea to throw a parade for a popular DIY’er couple on social media who finally made ‘Some Day’ happen thanks to Ace. OKRP turned to M&G once again to help create an eye-catching Ace Hardware ‘Some Day’ campaign float to turn a quiet suburban street in Florida into a lively parade scene and made-for-media event. One of M&G’s creative team members helped to procure float banner printing and also provided onsite support to assemble and design the float and help manage event logistics.
Outcome
The “Some Day” campaign helped drive Ace Hardware’s record number of Spring season paint consumers within its paint category and won the brand marketing industry’s coveted Reggie Award as a top brand activation campaign. The agency partners touted the kits as an important centerpiece of the campaign story’s success. The kit and its contents were featured in numerous DIYer’s social media posts, and even made an appearance on Chicago’s very own WGN’s live broadcast coverage of Ace’s ‘Some Day’ campaign!
M&G: Printers of the Amazing
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