DieHard Lives in New Bruce Willis Ad

DieHard, the former Sears brand, is back at Advance Auto stores across the nation. A DieHard commercial ran on the recent Packers/ Tampa Bay game, taking characters from the original Die Hard movie, and reprising them in an ad with original stars, including Bruce Willis. The plot begins with John McClane (Willis) lamenting his dead car battery. You can watch it below.

Advance Auto Parts Inc. acquired the DieHard brand from Transform Holdco LLC (the former Sears) for $200 million cash in December of 2019. The acquisition gave Advance the right to sell DieHard batteries and let the company extend the DieHard brand into other automotive and vehicle categories. The deal also allowed Transformco, basically the pieces of old Sears, to sell DieHard brand batteries. Advance also allowed Transformco an royalty-free, perpetual license to develop, market, and sell DieHard branded products in non-automotive categories.

“DieHard has the highest brand awareness and regard of any automotive battery brand in North America and will enable Advance to build a leadership position within the critical battery category,” said Tom Greco, president and CEO, Advance Auto Parts, in a December press release.

Sears sold its Craftsman brand in 2017 for $900 million to Stanley Black & Decker; that sale did not go well as in March of 2019, Stanley sued because Sears was launched its own new line of professional-grade mechanics’ tools under the sub-brand Craftsman Ultimate Collection.

The DieHard brand dates to 1967, and became, with Kenmore and Craftsman, one of Sears’ best known products. In recent years, Sears had also created a DieHard Auto Center brand extension, a rebrand of the Sears Auto store. Today, there are fewer than 100 Sears stores, though the brand lives in the online Sears.com and in independent Sears Hometown stores.

 

Advance Auto Parts Inc. acquired the DieHard brand from Transform Holdco LLC for $200 million in December of 2019, utilizing cash on hand.

The acquisition gave Advance the right to sell DieHard batteries and let the company extend the DieHard brand into other automotive and vehicular categories. The deal also allowed Transformco, the basically the pieces of old Sears, to sell DieHard brand batteries. Advance also allowed Transformco an exclusive royalty-free, perpetual license to develop, market, and sell DieHard branded products in non-automotive categories.

“DieHard has the highest brand awareness and regard of any automotive battery brand in North America and will enable Advance to build a leadership position within the critical battery category,” said Tom Greco, president and CEO, Advance Auto Parts, in a December press release.

Sears sold its Craftsman brand in 2017 for $900 million to Stanley Black & Decker; that sale did not go well as in March of 2019, Stanley sued because Sears was launched its own new line of professional-grade mechanics’ tools under the sub-brand Craftsman Ultimate Collection.

 

 

Author

  • Garland Pollard

    J. Garland Pollard IV is editor/publisher of BrandlandUSA. Since 2006, the website BrandlandUSA.com has chronicled the history and business of America’s great brands.

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