A woman in a well-appointed suburban home hears her doorbell ring.  She looks through a peephole, sees nothing, and starts to walk away.  The bell rings again.  Who’s there?  What’s going on?

What’s going on is a brand being very clever in a category not usually known for creatively driven advertising. That brand is Long Roofing with its new ad campaign from Falls Church, VA-based agency SmithGifford.

And what viewers don’t see in the new ad campaign is the spokesman—a uniformed “invisible man” who appears when the woman finally opens her door and who visually represents the campaign’s key message: “The things you don’t see make a big difference.”

The ads will run through 2020, but the long-term goal is for the campaign to evolve over the years with additional stories about the invisible man’s adventures, which will include some of Long’s other product lines, such as windows, doors, and baths.

SmithGifford founder Matt Smith said the campaign strategy was based on the client’s longtime reputation for professionalism and integrity in the home improvement category.

“Long Roofing is not only creating the highest standards for home improvement products, they are continually raising those standards to improve the product and the customer experience, and have been doing so for 74 years,” Smith said.  “In a word, it all boiled down to integrity – doing the right thing even when no one can see – which gave birth to our idea of the Invisible Man.

SmithGifford credits:

• CEO and Creative Director – Matt Smith
• President – Trisha Pierce
• Creative Director, Art – Bill Cutter
• Associate Creative Director, Copy – Aaron Spratt
• Account Supervisor – Melissa Astorga
• Account Manager – Makenna Ciraldo
• Producer – Dana Cole
• Director – Tim Roper
• Editor – John Polk
• Producer – Brittany Aluise