When a brand celebrates 90 years in business, it’s a big deal. Brands with that kind of heritage are institutions—legends, if you will.
This year, Ace Hardware and Zales Jewelers turn the big 9-0. We thought, “we should send them a card.” But then we realized these occasions call for more than a run-of-the-mill birthday card or even a singing voicemail. A 90th birthday calls for… wait for it… diamond mirror art and a layered hardware cake. (Isn’t it obvious?)
Art Director Will Chau gives us the backstory on the piece we created for Zales:
“We knew Zales’ 90th birthday gift had to be something romantic, beautiful and worthy of display. It needed to be an art piece that came from our hearts. The idea of the glass mirror spelling out “90 Years of Love” and surrounded by diamonds felt like an elegant visual statement. We wanted real diamonds on the glass, but it was just a tad out of our budget. Happy birthday, Zales!”
Copywriter Laurie Lehnert tells us how the Ace “layer cake” came to be:
“Art Director Kyle Mitchell and I were paired up to work on Ace’s upcoming 90th Anniversary campaign last November. One of the assignments was a poster, so we brainstormed images that would help Ace celebrate and share the excitement of the occasion with their fans. Kyle was in the throes of wedding preparation at the time and came back from a wedding cake meeting with the idea to make an Ace cake out of real, life-sized hardware. With a store full of items of all shapes and sizes it was easy to get excited about this idea. We documented the building of the cake, every minute for two days, to make this short “stop motion” video. Happy birthday, Ace!”
