Via the new “Get Your Weekend Back” campaign, Ace is taking advantage of The Weather Channel’s scale. Additionally, the company claims to be the first to daypart to the most relevant times when iPad is used most – nights and weekends.

“For their first foray into advertising on the iPad, Ace Hardware is leveraging the huge scale of The Weather Channel App for iPad, which has over 5.8 million downloads to date, to attract and engage new consumers,” said Patrick McCormack, vice president of mobile sales and strategy at The Weather Channel, Atlanta.

“On this particular campaign, we’re employing daypart targeting on the iPad, which is a first for both Ace Hardware and The Weather Channel,” he said. “Ace is taking advantage of TWC’s ability to daypart target so that they can reach consumers during the most relevant times when iPad is used most.”

Ace Hardware has about 4,600 hardware, home center and building materials stores nationwide.

The Weather Channel claims to reach more than 16 million unique users a month on the mobile Web.

Ace advantage
Ace is leveraging the unique usage aspects of the iPad by taking its online creative and localizing it for the user.

The Ace message changes based on where the consumer is and the weather conditions they experience – localizing it and making it relevant to them.

The mobile ad campaign lets users choose a tool – shovel, snow blower or salt – to remove the snow that accumulates on their screen, which then reveals the item, price point and the opportunity to find a local Ace Hardware near them.

“The Weather Channel is a great platform for Ace Hardware because home improvement tasks and yard maintenance are so closely tied to weather conditions,” Mr. McCormack said. “For example, with this campaign, a user checks the weather and sees that it’s going to snow today – the perfect time for Ace to remind them that they need something for snow removal, and lets them know where the nearest Ace is to purchase it.

“Ace Hardware is already taking advantage of the natural connection between weather conditions and home improvement by running across TWC’s other three screens – television, online and mobile,” he said.

“The Weather Channel App for iPad offers Ace Hardware the ability to engage consumers with a unique experience by taking their online creative and adding an interactive element to it, which directly speaks to how people expect and hope to interact with content on the tablet.”

Engagement
Running a mobile ad campaign such as this if effective for Ace.

Additionally, incorporating location makes the ad more relevant for the user and gives them more of an incentive to tap and interact with the creative.

“I think we’re going to see more advertisers looking to better target mobile campaigns to make them hyper-relevant to the user,” Mr. McCormack said. “Mobile users want information that’s local and relevant to them, and The Weather Channel makes it very easy for advertisers to do that.

“With an advanced set of demographic and geographic ad targeting capabilities, TWC is offering advertisers unprecedented access to their mobile audience,” he said.

Final Take
Rimma Kats is staff reporter on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York