Solve is happy to announce the hiring of Ryan Murray, Account Director. Ryan joins Solve from Fallon Minneapolis, where he spent six years managing and guiding brand strategy for clients including Cruzan Rum, The Phoenix Coyotes, The Cosmopolitan Hotel of Las Vegas and Purina. At Solve, Ryan will be the lead on True Value, helping the iconic American hardware brand connect with a new generation of DIYers.

Before advertising, Ryan worked in the film business at the Endeavor Agency in LA and as a Commercial Director’s Assistant. He’s a University of Wisconsin graduate and attended cinema school at the University of Southern California.

Ryan is smart, strategic and resourceful. He’s an optimistic, team-oriented person with boundless energy and passion. We’re thrilled to have him on board. Welcome to Solve, Ryan.

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Hardware Retailer Moves Outside The Store And Into People’s Lives

Solve has steered clear of convention in its new campaign for Chicago-based hardware cooperative True Value. The campaign breaks nationally this week and is Solve’s first work for True Value since winning the account in February 2013. Advertising in the hardware and do-it-yourself category is full of marketers touting helpful advice and featuring smiling, apron-clad employees in product-laden store aisles. Solve recommended True Value build a brand platform focused less on themselves and more on the needs and aspirations of people looking to handle home improvement projects. “People receive deep emotional satisfaction from doing a project themselves,” said Corey Johnson, Solve President. “By positioning True Value as an enabler of that satisfaction, the brand can claim its rightful place as the retailer that best understands what DIY customers are looking for,” added Johnson. The campaign centers on two television commercials that feature people in situations where they reap the benefits of True Value’s enablement. The spots introduce the campaign line “Behind Every Project Is A True Value,” which both reinforces the brand’s role and hints at the real motivation and value behind completing a home improvement project.

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