UK insurance company uses key characters in latest campaign, with deals brokered by Born Licensing.
UK insurance company Direct Line has launched its new advertising campaign featuring three major licensed properties – RoboCop, Donatello from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Bumblebee from the Transformers franchise.
Each character is the star of their own advert, all of which premiered simultaneously at 21:15 on Friday March 6. In a world-first TV and VOD ad break takeover, the spots appeared across ITV, Channel 4 and Sky. The launch moment alone was expected to reach 7.5 million people.
The deals were managed and negotiated by Born Licensing, the licensing agent for MGM, Viacom International Media Networks and Hasbro.
The Donatello spot shows the tech-savvy turtle in CGI form, skateboarding his way to a plumbing emergency only to discover that Direct Line has beat him to it. Bumblebee, meanwhile, is involved in an action-packed journey from an auction house to a minor car accident where he learns that Direct Line has already sent a taxi to the scene. Finally, RoboCop finds himself negotiating his way through city streets on a motorbike to an office space, but he too finds out that Direct Line has beaten him to save the day by replacing stolen laptops.
“We’re thrilled to share this brilliant example of how powerful characters can be in advertising,” said David Born, director of Born Licensing. “Each of these characters are instantly recognisable and adored by generations of fans. Teamed with the talented creative team at Saatchi & Saatchi London, an Oscar nominated director and best in class postproduction, the result has an amazingly cinematic feel which will no doubt have viewers wanting to watch the adverts again and again.”
Wendy Moores, head of marketing at Direct Line, added: “Our customers know that the second anything goes wrong, we will leap into action and have them covered.
“Our new campaign suggests that we are so good at doing this that we’re even better problem solvers than some of the world’s best and most loved heroes, to ensure we stay ahead of the insurance pack.”
The campaign consists of 3 x 60” adverts along with cut downs and will be supported by out of home placement on billboards, buses and bus stops. Other campaign material featuring the characters includes print, social media, online, radio, home page takeovers and other activity to be announced.
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