Ideas We Love: The most disastrous campaign ever 🤕⛔🚧
Issue Number 15: Specialist insurer Hiscox gets an OOH glow-up from Uncommon
When starting this little newsletter of ours we wanted it to serve two purposes.
Primarily, we wanted it to act as a library of work that would ensure great ideas we’d seen, chatted about and shared through Teams etc wouldn’t become distant memories; both with regards to each idea we feature, as well as the other ideas it reminded us of.
In the few short weeks that have followed, we’ve quickly shared and reminded ourselves of over 50 bits of at least what we subjectively consider to be brilliant work.
During that time no other agency’s output has come up in our conversations as much as Uncommon, London.
However, rather than simply adding to the pile-up of flowers they’ve already been given for their recent window to the world campaign for British Airways; what we really, really love is the next chapter of a campaign they’ve developed for specialist insurer in the UK, Hiscox.
The reason being we think there’s loads more lovely things that could be done with it; which points to the second goal of this newsletter - of taking our brains for a workout by thinking about what we’d do with it.
So let’s get into it…
The idea: The most disastrous campaign EVER
At it’s heart this idea is super simple.
A series of deliberately dodgy OOH executions that spotlight the plight that SMEs face every day going about their business, and how Hiscox might be able to help.
Following up this original batch of work from September 2023...
…with some lovely follow-ups like this 48 sheet turned not-so confidential envelope - just check out the sticky back plastic on the side - ooft that’s lovely…
…and this less than professionally posted poster, complimenting more standard formats packed with the same spirit, that were more widely distributed than these and a few other special builds.
Fiona Mayo, CMO of Hiscox UK said of the campaign…
“We set out to create a campaign that was a bold, distinctive and veracious representation of the challenges facing SMEs today. Early indicators tell us this is really resonating with our audiences and we hope the next phase of the campaign will continue on that path”
We think it’s safe to say they’ve achieved it.
Why we love this idea
It builds trust from a different angle ⛑️
Having worked with a few financial services brands in the past, trust and with it being trusted is more often than not the must-win attribute.
Not unsurprising given the stakes involved when something goes wrong.
However, this often leads to work that can be pretty dry and rational; where you could swap some logos in and out and they’ll all be equally as ineffective - with more personality coming from comparison sites than those they list within them.
This Hiscox idea riffs off the fact that it’s often the s*** that goes wrong in business, that can be more memorable and interesting than the things that go right; conveying that Hiscox gets the kinds of challenges that owners of SMEs face in the everyday and will help solve them.
It helps create a dramatic, disruptive and distinctive body language 🎭
Research from psychologists indicate as much of 90% of the take-out from communication comes from non-verbal cues; aka our body language.
We’ve all fallen victim to sighs, eye-rolls and side-eye in our lives…haven’t we? Maybe just us.
Leading with specific challenges, rather than generic solutions, helps Hiscox layer loads more drama into their staging of some deliberately dodgy work.
In doing so adding drama and disruption to the brand’s body language; using media as part of the message in ways that help Hiscox stand-out and stand apart in a distinctive manner.
It’s a limitless idea, just starting with OOH ♾️
Whilst this latest tranche of work is no-doubt OOH-led, the thought can stretch into all sorts of other contexts, channels and connections - just like this lovely bit of Direct Mail.
Which shows the idea has legs.
This flexibility neatly compliments Hiscox’s tailored insurance solutions and will help them down the line find a multitude of ways to convey this to potential customers.
Which neatly segues onto…
What we’d love to do with it 👷♂️
The point of this section is to suggest things we’d do with this idea, free from the shackles of budgets, legals and approvals.
So let’s put on our hard-hats on and get to work.
#1 A few more Advertising-Led Disasters 📺📺📺
The obvious place to start, would be to take this idea from something that is staged in OOH, into other prominent channels to drive incremental reach and resonance.
Given there are 5.5M SMEs employing over half the UK workforce, there’s likely some additional headroom for this idea to grow into; we’ve seen a little bit of that with their original Metro cover-wrap as well as the Direct Mail above, but we feel there’s loads more that might be done.
Let’s take TV as an example.
We’re sure Uncommon could come up with a killer TVC, but it feels at odds with the idea to restrict how it plays out to 10, 20 or 30 second packets of time - at least when debuting.
Therefore what are the spaces alongside and in-between the ad slots you might play with, to help this idea wear-in before a more standard format takes over and refreshes those memories across time.
We love the thought of creating something along the lines of the world’s most disastrous ad-break as part of the next chapter of this work; where in partnership with a broadcaster, or with the help of some friendly brands Hiscox could…
Create set-malfunctions on Live (or what is perceived to be Live) TV
Show-up some shoddy work by an intern who might load up the ad-break incorrectly, up-side down or inside-out, or even put another channels ident into action or that channels ident from another era
Taking it further, with a little help from some CGI wizardry or re-casting of talent, Hiscox could even bring other brands ads into this comedy of errors and knock over that perfect pint of Guinness, drive that shiny new electric car off the road, or even serve up a mouldy whopp….oh someone already did that ; )
#2 Layering in Sponsorships & Tenancies 🎞️🎞️🎞️
As well as expanding into other channels, why not try to ensure these stories and scenarios get the repetition they deserve too?
Regularly cited research suggests you need a frequency of roughly 10-12 in a country like the U.K. to move from simple ad-exposure to ad-awareness.
Given the sheer variety of executions seen with this campaign, rather than just giving them a single moment in the sun as with this burst of OOH - why not find a suitable sponsorship vehicle to enable them and others like them to wear-in and maybe even become more effective over time.
The likes of a gold spot in cinema could be a perfect platform to spread these stories, akin to the much loved and long running Orange Wednesday promotion from back in the day - with a highly prominent, visible and viewable media format that has frequency in-built.
#3 Create some deliciously disastrous entertainment ‼️‼️‼️
As mentioned, the s*** that goes wrong in life can often be more memorable than the things that go right, but will go forgotten; hence why shows like Parenting Hell ride high at the top of Apple’s podcast lists.
It feels like there could be a gap in the market for a show of this nature pointed at the workplace, rather than the children, that could further cement Hiscox’ credentials as “underwriting of the story of your business”.
First off you might trial it with a radio promo to see whether the concept of balls-ups in business resonates with audiences - where callers share stories to win support packages for them and their business.
Then you might partner with a leading show in the entrepreneurial space, like The Diary of CEO and create a spin-off Diary of a CE-Woe (I’ll get my coat) to further test the concept and subject matter to gauge real-word feedback.
All things going well, you could then launch your own show where you spotlight the real stories from within Hiscox’ customer base as a means of building a community around the idea and promoting those clients services.
Again, lots of places it might go, lots of empathy you can show.
#4 Take some disaster directly to SMEs doorsteps 👋👋👋
Why stop at a show people watch, or listen to, in a controlled/scripted show format.
It might not be to everyone’s taste, however why not make these stories things small business operators can experience for real out there in the wild, or second-hand online, with some live-action pranking linked to the most unusual types of scenarios Hiscox underwrite.
You could do this with the creation of the world’s worst temporary talent agency, where freelance…
…Tattoo artists ink the dodgiest tattoos, hairdressers create the cringiest cuts, waiters serve up the dodgiest dinners, car-washers wreck the most luxurious cars…all much to the chagrin of some overly-zealous customers (we also place) making the owners feel deeply uncomfortable - until we reveal it’s not for real but in doing so create the next story of their business they’ll tell their grand-children - courtesy of Hiscox.
There’s a reason why pranks form the most enjoyable parts of the country’s most popular TV shows; take a look below to see how integral they’ve been to the past 20 years of Saturday night TV in the U.K. below.
We could go on, but hopefully that gives a sense of where this idea could also go, which is a large part of the reason why we love it so much.
If you liked this, you’ll love…..
We really enjoyed this one and here’s some other ads and activations it reminded us, or made us think of again when writing it and thinking about what we might do with it.
Three things the Hiscox work reminded us of…
#1 Should’ve gone to Specsavers 👓
The first idea that came to mind, is no surprise given it’s been running for 20 years.
You know the work, but you may not be familiar with the work behind the work.
Check out their CMO & Creative Lead’s views on Jon Evans System1 podcast sharing how a simple brand idea created a winning formula for their brand and business.
#2 You’re not you when you’re hungry 🤬
Another really lovely, simple idea that’s been given some additional cognitive punch courtesy of some of the contexts it’s shown up in.
The following, we can’t help but think could be up-cycled by Hiscox.
#3 BBC Creative. Getting creative with OOH 🔥
A new blockbuster BBC series on the box soon?
It’s highly likely you’ll see a new or novel use of OOH to help launch it.
No doubt some of which forming some visual references for this Hiscox work.
Three things the next round of Hiscox work could upcycle…
#1 Inspiration for creating THE most disastrous ad-break
Is it the sun, sand and proximity to the sea or is it simply the lack of advertising regulation? Australia & New Zealand often give us some of the very best of the best work around.
Which was what we had in-mind when creating the world’s most disastrous ad-break.
An idea you could make happen with a little bit of CGI like this for Uber Eats.
Or you might make it happen with with some re-casting akin to Peloton Girl…
#2 Pranks for reading
Where we’ll leave you with a couple of high-profile pranks from the memory bank, that Hiscox could re-mix in a modern context as we alluded to.
Push to Add Drama - in lovely HD
Serving up some horror-ble coffee
Until next time,
Matt & Tom
If you enjoyed this, you might enjoy a couple more of our writing projects.
Matt is building out ‘The A to Z of Media Planning’ over here, to help young media planners and non-media specialists understand our craft faster than they otherwise might.
Whereas Tom is putting his thoughts on modern communications strategy and planning into words over here.