Project Objective

The challenge was to launch Northern Ireland’s hottest ever insurance deal with a real bang – so we created a fully integrated TV campaign and offered customers a cracking deal, plus up to £100 cashback.

What we did

We needed to get into the heads of the Northern Irish people and understand that DRTV ads in Northern Ireland are completely different to those of the mainland. They’re all about the craic, they’re disruptive and we needed to create something that people would be talking about down the pub.

So who better to help us launch Northern Ireland’s biggest insurance deal – than May McFettridge, their biggest panto star. He/she became the perfect figurehead for our DRTV campaign – a remake of the classic 80s disco classic ‘It’s Raining Men’.

It featured two Weather Girl look-alikes in a live action production shot against green screen involving heavy CGI post-production. To create pre-launch noise, we worked in collaboration with SKV Manchester, developed a pre-launch campaign involving May McFettridge and 40 dancers in a flash mob stunt outside Belfast Town Hall http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_IcoE8Sngk – and a tour of Northern Ireland’s Open & Direct shops plus email and DM activity.

It was also important to co-ordinate all media activity prior to launch. So The Black Hole also worked closely with TCS Media, so that on launch day 16th April, everyone in Northern Ireland woke up to 48 sheets and press ads featuring May and Northern Ireland’s hottest insurance deal yet. All Open & Direct shop windows were wrapped in teaser vinyls and impactful POS.

The 30 second TV slot aired that evening in between Coronation Street. Inbound calls are already up by 50% in the first week. Customers are able to engage with the campaign online by viewing the ‘The Making Of… Raining Cash’, all three 30 second TV slots, download the Raining Cash ring tone for their mobile – and follow May McFettridge at openanddirect.com

Project objective

The key focus of this TV campaign was to bring Skipton Building Society’s mutuality status to life, as well as drive footfall and sales. At the time, customers were growing tired of faceless organisations – and were looking for better value products and service, where they felt valued as an individual.

What we did

Undertaking in-depth research into the Society gave us vital brand insight. Customers have heard of mutuality, but what the status actually means to them isn’t widely understood. So to increase sales amongst both existing and new customers, we developed an integrated marketing campaign to explain what mutuality means in a friendly and compelling way.

Our campaign message ‘Skipton makes every penny count for you’ was simple and flexible enough to carry product messaging. So as well as creating an animated direct response TV advert, we rolled it out across press advertising and direct mail. In branch activity also carried the campaign forward, rotating product messages on a weekly basis.

Project Objective

Our strategic and creative challenge was to look at how the existing ‘shapes’ direct response TV advert for Bupa could be developed to tackle a subject matter that needed to be handled carefully – care for cancer diagnosis and treatment. 

What we did

Our aim was to drive more response through a key recruitment channel for Bupa PMI. Having looked at research conducted after the previous TV campaign we could see that just getting people to think about taking up Bupa cover isn’t enough. Tangible benefits drive an actual response.

But when you’re talking about a subject as emotive as cancer, particularly in TV advertising, treating it sensitively is even more important than it would be normally. So we tried to make the advert feel as real as possible, so it was engaging for the customer even in a world of animation. 

With the right customer insight, targeting and research – we made sure that the final TV advert showed real empathy with cancer sufferers, as well as showing the breadth and benefits of cover offered.