Aaron’s New Integrated Brand Campaign Emphasizes “Own the Life You Want”

Furniture World News Desk on 4/11/2014

Aaron’s, Inc., a leading lease-to-own specialty retailer that offers flexible payment options for credit-challenged individuals, is contemporizing the brand through a new ad campaign, modernized store layouts, and enhanced digital and mobile capabilities. The brand evolution allows Aaron’s to engage with customers at every touch point. The “Own the Life You Want” campaign emphasizes Aaron’s brand promise—“Aaron’s makes owning easy through lease ownership, so you can own the life you want.”

“Our brand campaign is an evolution of the message we’ve always offered customers, that owning is easy with Aaron’s,” said Andrea Freeman, Vice President of Marketing. “The campaign captures the spirit of the American Dream for success, and does so with an optimistic and humorous approach.”

According to the Association of Progressive Rental Organizations (APRO), three out of four rent-to-own customers, or 75 percent, return their products within four months for various reasons. However, nearly half of Aaron’s customers end up owning their furniture, appliances, or electronics because Aaron’s is committed to working with each customer to help them achieve ownership. The campaign builds upon this unique point of difference -- Aaron’s has a proven track record of helping customers attain ownership.

Aaron’s new advertising campaign, launching Monday, April 7, includes four 30-second ads that embody humorous, fictitious characters of the American Dream, underscoring that Aaron’s is there to help customers become owners of the products they want and the life they want. Aaron’s partnered with 22squared, its advertising agency of record, to create the ads, including one starring Brian Vickers, NASCAR’s rising star and full-time driver of the No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine, as well as a trio of over-the-top characters – Bobby, Charmony and Emilio – who got their start at Aaron’s before becoming wildly successful. The ads can be viewed at www.aarons.com/tv.

Customers can experience the brand refresh firsthand at many of Aaron’s contemporized stores. The new store design groups furniture together in room settings so that customers can immediately envision how the furniture might look in their home. Notable changes in the store design include a strategic merchandising plan resulting in a comfortable, uncluttered environment, and concise product-level signage. On-trend colors and textures are incorporated throughout the contemporized stores, including a softer version of Aaron’s signature blue on the walls and new backdrops that act as temporary wallpaper, ensuring that vignettes stay fresh and current. Approximately 100 stores will feature the new store design by the fall in Atlanta, San Antonio, Philadelphia, Tampa, Fla. and Columbus, Ohio.

Aaron’s is also evolving digitally in order to stay more connected with customers at every touch point. New and enhanced digital offerings will allow customers to “own” their Aaron’s experience, controlling how they interact with Aaron’s whether via mobile, web or in store. Over the course of the coming year, customers will have access to instant price quotes, customer reviews and product ratings, improved usability, and richer content, visuals and merchandising on Aaron’s web and mobile sites. On a local level, Aaron’s is supporting store managers through greater local online search results, new digital marketing tools to communicate with customers and strong social media support.

Aaron’s is implementing new marketing strategies to reach the growing Hispanic demographic, a key target market for the company. Through a strategic focus on five markets, Aaron’s will run two of the three new brand ads in Spanish to directly target Hispanic customers with its “Own the Life You Want” message. According to APRO, Hispanic customers are more engaged with their mobile phones than any other demographic. Aaron’s Spanish-speaking customers can interact with Aaron’s through a Spanish version of the web site at http://espanol.aarons.com.

About Aaron's, Inc.: Aaron's, Inc. (NYSE: AAN), a leader in the sales and lease ownership and specialty retailing of residential furniture, consumer electronics, home appliances and accessories, has more than 2,120 Company-operated and franchised stores in 48 states and Canada. Founded in 1955 by entrepreneur and Chairman Emeritus R. Charles Loudermilk, Sr. and headquartered in Atlanta, Aaron's has been publicly traded since 1982. For more information, visit www.aarons.com. Aaron's, Inc. includes the Aarons.com and ShopHomeSmart.com brands.