Hardware chain Rona is doing it all wrong in a national TV campaign created by Sid Lee.
The “Cutting Corners” campaign, which debuted last month and runs through June 11, is Sid Lee’s first for the Quebec-based hardware chain since being named lead agency in January. The Montreal agency had previously worked with Rona on a project basis for more than a year.
The four TV spots all feature an incompetent handyman hosting a fictional home improvement segment.
In one 30-second spot, “Doors,” the host explains how to improperly install new closet doors, offering bad advice about everything from measuring (“You’re going to want to round off to the nearest inch or so”) to the materials themselves (“you’re going to need two approximately identical doors”). He then advises viewers to affix the doors to hinges using a “standard butter knife.”
Each of the segments concludes with the host telling viewers not to go to Rona for tips and tools. “They’re lousy at doing it wrong,” he says. The spots employ Rona’s “Doing it right” tagline and an animation that shows the words being put in place, accompanied by various tools sounds.
Thomas Hougaz, strategy director for Sid Lee in Montreal, said that “Doing it right” is intended to convey multiple meanings to consumers, ranging from doing a project the right way to doing it in a way that’s right for their budget. “For us, ‘Doing it right’ is a philosophy,” he said.
The new campaign is aimed at raising the chain’s profile outside of its home market and differentiating it from competitors such as The Home Depot in the crowded—and increasingly commoditized—home improvement category.
“People don’t see the difference [between hardware chains] anymore, so we wanted to create a new language and point-of-view for Rona,” he said.
