Published on
April 9, 2024
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Welcome to the Breakdown, a weekly roundup of the best real-life marketing examples, created for marketers and agency folk that want to create work that actually works.
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Hiscox continue with their stellar copy-led OOH executions
You've probably seen them around London and/or LinkedIn over the past year, but Hiscox have been creating some of the best B2B ATL work going. Their OOH has always been copy-led, focusing on getting firmly into the shoes of decision-makers at small businesses.
Their latest work is a continuation of the "most disastrous campaign" platform, in which the OOH executions are themselves real big c*ck-ups, to relate to the potential pitfalls that SMEs face.
Things like a letter marked CONFIDENTIAL being torn open and its contents laid bare. Or an ad printed upside down. Or printed WAAAAY too small. Underlined with the line, ‘The story of your business, underwritten by Hiscox’.
It's fun work. It's great copy. When the campaing first launched last year, Fiona Mayo (UK MD of Hiscox) said
“In a category that’s often serious and cautious, we’ve created a campaign with a distinctive visual approach and intelligent humour that’s rooted in deep insight, to stand apart.”
We agree, Fiona.
This is really good work. It's clear, funny, likeable, targeted, well-placed Out-Of-Home. Some of the executions are better than others (but that's always the way, isn't it.) The only disappointment is that the campaign hasn't evolved much since it began. We're all for consistency (and the effectiveness it delivers over time), but this new batch of posters feels like a creative team were just holding back. But we're nitpicking now.
McDonald's fake a bit of reality TV in their new work about sharing nugs.
Maccies nugs are the 8th wonder of the world.
But sharing them is always hazardous territory. This is the insight that fuels McDonald's latest campaign. People see sharing nugs as a personal, intimate thing. There are only a handful of people you'd share your nugs with, and when someone NOT in that circle takes one out of your 20 sharebox, you ice them out for all eternity.
There's a film of course, but the campaign really takes place on social and online press. The campaign film is very reality TV, where couples deliberate over a nug-sharing contract. A "pre-nug." Consumers are invited to the McDonald's Insta to sign the contract themselves.
Elsewhere on Insta, paparazzi-style shots of influencer Millie Court leaving an establishment with a sign saying "Mac & Donald Ltd Solicitors" and holding what appears to be a prenuptial agreement were featured on her social media channels. Teasing a wedding with fellow Love Island star, the post was picked up by a few UK rags, and away it went.
It's all a bit tongue in cheek, but this is a nice idea. It started with an honest, good insight - a quirk of our culture and behaviour that has the product at the centre of it. Everything else is good, fun creativity at work. We should applaud the media planners - this could easily have just been a TV ad. But this is a digital activation at its heart, with a good use of influencer talent and digital resource.
Let's not pretend Huel are good gamblers. But this one was odds on.
The nutrition brand may have messed up with the Steven Bartlett partnership (if you do actually like Steven Bartlett, then I apologise. Not because I have indirectly insulted him, but because you are a person who likes Steven Bartlett).
This, on the other hand, was a master stroke. Almost exactly 1 year ago, Russ Cook (or Hardest Geezer as most know him) began an insane challenge - running the entire length of Africa. He finished yesterday, with his face now plastered all across everyone's social feeds.
But 92 days into this undertaking, Huel reached out, offering to feed him liquidised nutrition for the rest of the trip as part of a brand deal.
Yes, you could point out that Huel want to partner with generally succesful people (especially athletes) to create a layer of messages that equates eating/drinking Huel with 'being good at stuff'. But put all that aside - Huel saw a man running, and recognised that nearly a full year later, this would be some of the best PR they could get.
Nothing complicated here. Just a really good, early read from Huel. How often do we see brands working with influencers and celebs as their fame and clout seem to be winding down? Maybe they're linked in some way (once an influencer plugs product, maybe their audience senses a shift?). But Huel got in early, and rode the wave. Nice work.