Throwback Thursday: Here’s Connie Stevens

The headline reads: “Connie Stevens lends Ace her helpful hardware hand.”

Indeed she did.

The Jan. 27, 1975, issue of National Home Center News, the forerunner of HBSDealer, described Ace’s Connie Stevens campaign as a “radical advertising switch” from traditional hardware store fare to a commercial featuring a “sultry beauty” who croons enticingly to the television audience.

“Our main concern,” said Curt Burdick, assistant advertising manager for the co-op, “was to generate instant national awareness.”

Other facts about the historic commercial:

• It cost Ace $1.5 million for a complete ABC, NBC and CBS package – about 80% of the entire Ace advertising budget that year.

• According to Burdick, the spot tested better among women than it did among men;

• The fall 1974 campaign hit about 440 million families. “I’m sure the charisma of Connie Stevens made an impression on at least 90% of those households,” Burdick said.

Ace’s relationship with Connie Stevens lasted through 1978.

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