Page 49 - HW April 2022

then as now
Then as now – April 1992 & 2012
LOOKING BACK 30 years, April 1992 was a bit light in terms of finding a single event or news item worthy of repeating here.
However, far from being an all-time low in terms of content, our stories in this issue of NZ Hardware Journal encompassed a wide variety of people.
You’ll know the first pair of characters...
Mitre 10’s comedic 1992 TV campaign – “Home Sweat Home” – featured Lynn of Tawa (Ginette McDonald) and Gary McCormick and exploited their characters’ all but total lack of DIY savvy.
1992 – “HOME SWEAT HOME”
Timed to coincide with the launch of Mitre 10’s April 1992 TV campaign – “Home Sweat Home” – NZ Hardware Journal was privy to some behind-the-scenes action.
The ad campaign was fronted by iconic Kiwi comics Lynn (of Tawa – aka Ginette McDonald) and Gary (McCormick) and exploited their characters’ all but total lack of DIY savvy.
The hapless pair had inherited a rundown villa, apparently untouched and unloved for a quarter century or more...
Where do they go for help?
Where else but Mitre 10 of course – specifically the Northcote store on Auckland’s North Shore (now long gone), where the in-store scenes were shot.
Other movers & shakers from April 1992 included Yates’ Steve Collins and Greg McLean, who both scrubbed up well for a
photo, the plan being to ply the trade with their Green Earth tools range.
In the same issue we have Amalgamated Hardware’s John Christie recorded for posterity learning about the new electronic POS system just incorporated into the firm’s offering.
30 years ago, Mitre 10’s Jim Liggins and Manager of Taubman’s architectural coatings division, Billy Adair, were also snapped.
Sporting the business standard issue of the 90s – tailored dark trousers, crisp white shirt and thin neckties – they both cut a fine figure!
2012 – “EASY AS” AND PROJECT ORANGE
Moving forward to April 2012, we featured more Mitre 10 marketing with the launch of a campaign that remains a staple of the co-op’s marketing today.
Over the weekend of 14-15 April 2012, Mitre 10 NZ launched its “Easy As” initiative – including new branding, new-look websites, more TVCs and its very own YouTube channel.
Enter too a new key
character, the quietly
confident, knowledgeable
Stan the Builder – actually
Stan Scott, Kiwi bloke, former Changing Rooms personality and a registered builder with years of building experience – who was there to help DIYers along the way.
Stan, as you’ll know, remains central to Mitre 10’s marketing and promotional activity to this day.
The new “Easy As” front man however didn’t take the limelight away from the brand’s iconic strongman, Levi Vaoga, who started back in 2003 (with “Big is Good”) and remained the face of the Mitre 10 MEGA brand until 2015.
At this point, we should remind everyone that the “Easy As” initiative wasn’t an end in itself but part of a bigger plan to rejuvenate the Mitre 10 NZ cooperative, this time bottom up instead of top down, as was the case with the launch of MEGA in 2004.
Here we’re talking about “Project Orange” which kicked off in 2011 as the co-op set about upgrading, refreshing and re-imaging its Mitre 10 mid-tier stores.
“Easy As” and Stan Scott (aka Stan the Builder) made their debuts back in 2012. Both remain staples of Mitre 10’s branding and promotional activities.
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APRIL 2022 | NZHJ 47
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