Henkle’s Ace Hardware Of Joplin, Missouri Uses AM/FM Radio To Be Known Before They’re Needed
Today, advertisers are obsessed with the science of measuring short-term sales effect. The priority is on converting existing demand rather than creating future demand. The focus is just on the 5% who are in market, not the 95% who are not.
“Living rent-free in people’s heads”: How Henkle’s Ace Hardware built its brand
Cris and John Henkle had previously owned a small hardware store in Oklahoma and moved to the Joplin area to start Henkle’s Ace Hardware in 2006.
They started with a half-hour “do it yourself” call-in radio show on Saturday mornings around 2013. It quickly grew to a two-hour show. But that was before the real magic happened.
It seemed the usual mailers and circulars were not working like they used to so Cris and John decided to work on a long-term plan.
Around 2018, after attending Chuck Mefford’s BrandsFormation© BrandKamp for local business owners, they cut back in many areas and invested in long-term branding with AM/FM radio.
They sat down with a local radio group, Zimmer Marketing, and developed a long-term strategy. Using a “story brick and mortar” approach to being a “top of mind” brand, they positioned themselves against the big box stores that are better known in the 4-state area.
Business grew so well after that, they built a second store during the middle of the pandemic. One customer told them that with their catchy jingle in their AM/FM radio ads, they were “living rent-free in his head every single day.”
To understand the magnitude of the brand Henkle’s Ace Hardware built with long-term advertising on AM/FM radio, the Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group® commissioned Quantilope to conduct a study of 150 consumers in Joplin, Missouri in January 2026.
Henkle’s Ace Hardware places a strong number three in unaided brand awareness behind two major national brands
Consumers were asked, “When you think of hardware/home improvement stores, which ones come to mind?” Respondents had to write in all the brand names they could think of. They were not provided with a list of firms.
Henkle’s Ace Hardware placed an impressive third, trailing the Home Depot and Lowe’s, two major national brands.
Why local retailers have to continually advertise: People are moving into your town who have no awareness of your business
Generally, two-thirds of people have lived in an area for ten or more years. About a third have arrived in the last ten years and are much less aware of local businesses.
The Quantilope study also measured aided awareness by providing consumers with the names of local advertisers. The longer people have lived in the area, the greater the awareness of Henkle’s Ace Hardware and a number of other well-known local businesses.
53% of consumers who have lived in Joplin for ten or more years said they were aware of Henkle’s Ace Hardware. 39% of consumers who have lived in the area for less than 10 years said they were aware of Henkle’s Ace Hardware. Nearly two times as many long-term residents were aware of Superior Roofing (43%) compared to people who moved to the area in the last ten years (22%).
This is great lesson for local retailers. Your business might be famous but every day new people move to town who have never heard of you. This is a crucial reason to continuously advertise your business. Also, advertising memories fade.
Across all stages of the consumer journey, Henkle’s Ace Hardware has strong brand equity
Henkle’s Ace Hardware’s usage of AM/FM radio advertising has built a dominant brand.
Henkle’s Ace Hardware’s unaided awareness (47%), ad recall (19%), and brand favorability (25%) are very strong. Impressively, 23% of people in Joplin have ever used Henkle’s Ace Hardware. 10% say they would use Henkle’s Ace Hardware if the need arose.
Henkle’s Ace Hardware offers a master class on creating future demand and how building a brand is the main driver of long-term growth and profit
By patiently investing in brand building advertising to create future demand, Henkle’s Ace Hardware of Joplin has made their service easy to think of and easy to buy. Their lighthearted and humorous ads have created positive feelings and associations with broad reach ads that people find interesting and enjoyable.
In the end, Henkle’s Ace Hardware’s lesson for marketers is that advertising is not just about manically measuring short-term performance. It’s about “being known before you’re needed.”