I was catching up on HGTV yesterday and found myself totally amused by this new television ad by Ace Hardware for Clark + Kensington paint. In all my DIY painting experience, I had never heard of this brand.
In the commercial the woman shopper says: "I'm looking for a purple, but not like my favorite dress in college kind of purple.. it was just a little too purple. I'm looking more for puuuuur-ple, kind of like it's raining, only it's raining way way way way over there purple. Know what I mean?" To which the helpful store attendant responds: "Yeah. You want the color but you don't want to be smothered by it. Something you can live with for a long time." The camera pans in on the 'handsome' shade she has just described and love-at-first-sight music ensues.
It's humorous and compelling because it's accurate. We communicate the color we envision inarticulately by saying things like: not too yellow, not too blue, not too pale, not too deep, bright but not too bright, gray but not dead. Or, as in her case, with too much personal detail: It's the cornflower blue crayon color but with more saturation like a clear sky in Fall.
In the commercial they liken selecting the perfect paint color to selecting the perfect partner. Apparently, women who make the majority of decisions about paint color are the same women looking for their life partner.
For more information on the market research that went in to making the TV ad you can read about it in Reuters and The New York Times and you can see more from this series on the company's facebook page.
And be sure to check out the commercial here. Are you laughing?
Image: Ace Hardware
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In the version I keep seeing, the woman doesn't elaborate on the two purples with explanations or descriptions; she just enunciates the two versions of "puuuurple" slightly differently.
Yeah that's all fine and good but have any of you been to an Ace since this ad came out? They have lifesize cutouts of crayola colored people sitting in the paint aisles. My local store has a green woman, her eyes look red. It's terrifying, and certainly does not make me want to buy their paint. It makes me want to know what the hell they were thinking and what controlled substance they put in their test groups' coffee.
I find it very hard to believe less than 5 children had to be reassured the green lady was not going to eat them over the course of a weekend.
It was easier finding my boyfriend than it was finding the perfect gray for the house, so I can relate to this commercial completely. It cracks me up every time.
This ad campaign is amazing, best one I've seen in awhile. I just watched those ads for like half an hour on Youtube, they have some really great ones.
Jess13 I totally know what you mean. Even in the commercial, these entirely purple dudes fall right into the Uncanny Valley for me. I think it's because they're all expressionless, and the make-up job makes their facial features less defined.
I find them disturbing, but at least less annoying than that passive aggressive Fiat 500 Abarth. That's not how I want my car to treat me.
I went to my local ACE last week to get some Pratt & Lambert paint and was intrigued by the new line. Within the the past week I've received a coupon for a sample pot, which I may take them up on.
The cut out people in my local ace were disturbing, but I'm going to try the paint anyway (because I picked up a free quart this weekend for the launch!)
The writing in the ad campaign is hilarious though. We'll see how well this paint + primer covers when I pain my bathroom.
This is proof that it was a successful ad campaign. It started conversation. Every remembers both the product and the advertiser. Kudos to the ad agency and the creatives.
Apparently, women who make the majority of decisions about paint color are the same women looking for their life partner.
What does this even mean, only single women care about paint colors? >.>
I thought the cutouts at the store were a bit odd. But I have only used ACE brand paints since we didn't have really any other place to buy paint. I like them and wonder if this new brand will be just as good or better, probably should have gotten my free quart but I was stuck at home with sicklings