One ersatz classic you would not have found, however, was an aluminum chair that Restoration Hardware advertised in its catalogs and on its Web site.
Mr. Surane said Ace Hardware's paint advertising expenditures will increase 20 percent in 2012 versus 2011.
So do the hardware store signs advertising wood-stove pellets for sale by the ton.
According to Dana Larsen, a brand manager for Ace Hardware, the new advertising, which is "all about romance," is meant to appeal to women 25 to 44, "who are the primary drivers in the selection of color".
Investors may not expect Spotify to be making a profit yet, but with no existing business in hardware (Apple, Beats, Sony, Microsoft) or advertising (Google, YouTube) to prop it up, the company's future depends on figuring out how to reach a much bigger scale with many more paying subscribers, managing its royalty commitments, running costs and investment in new features and countries.
Apple's revenue is concentrated in hardware sales, not advertising.
And while it has sold well and drawn praise from reviewers, Barnes & Noble has acknowledged that the Nook has not been profitable, leaving investors anxious about the future costs tied to it, with the need to develop new software and hardware and to advertise the products.
The sites are supported largely by advertising from hardware companies and suppliers.
Inexpensive devices are likely to come to the United States and European markets with some of the hardware costs offset by advertising or by content sales through the device.
Ignore the fire escapes for a moment and the thick coat of battleship gray, the long-shuttered hardware store and the advertising banner on the Edgar Street facade.
In "The Creativity Crisis," a widely read Newsweek article from 2010, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman provide this list of "creative" products: books, dances, radio shows, art exhibitions, software programs, advertising campaigns, hardware innovations, music compositions, public policies (written or implemented), leadership positions, invited lectures, and buildings designed.
