‘Launching campaigns from kitchen tables’
Taking a moment, to reflect on what we have produced
Many of the topics and stories we cover in our weekly newsletter have been focused on the world around us on the work and behaviours of others, which during the current climate has been fascinating. Over the last few months we have been thinking especially hard about the concept of trust for brands in current climate, which we cover later in this weeks’ newsletter. Alongside a borderline obsession with planning, seeing work go live is what we love too. So rather unapologetically we wanted to shift the focus inwards this week and showcase three campaigns we have helped plan, make and set live during lockdown. What we have learnt from delivering these campaigns is useful not just for now, but we feel is useful for future comms planning too.
Christopher Ward
Live in time
We have worked with Christopher Ward since late January. And this Friday sees the launch of our first campaign with them to support the launch of the C60 Sapphire (above). With a debut on TV for the English watchmakers. Over February we had finessed a communications strategy and had rough plans laid out for the year ahead. In under 8 weeks, these had changed drastically with the rulebook thrown out the window. What hadn’t changed were our foundations of knowing who we needed to talk to, and the shape of communications required to do this.
To build these foundations, required an obsession of delivering against a brief that wanted to challenge the status quo of the watch category, beautifully bolstered with bravery. As we stated in early presentations; ‘We don’t need a bigger boat, we need a better boat’. A reference to the need to create eSOV for growth on our own terms combined with a play on the seminal words of Chief Brody.
A solid communications strategy, should be something that works as a key part of the brief and understanding for all agencies and clients.
We found that building this work and consulting with all stakeholders and teams frequently and quickly ensured, collective momentum and understanding rather than working to big reveal moments- which as we have spoken about in previous newsletters don’t work as well in the world of video conferences.
With stable foundations and shared understanding, a sense of speed, and togetherness is fostered. Enabling ideas and actions to pivot, to be taken on or dismissed all based on the premises of do they deliver against the communications strategy and principles we have set out. This has been crucial in taking a fresh brief to air in under eight weeks.
Getting to air has been no mean feat either, all creative made and produced under lockdown, no clients on set, no location shoot, no extensive crew. The creative hit screens on Friday, and will be live across TV and social channels for the coming weeks.
For all of those involved it has shown us that there are new ways of producing, we didn’t need to create another ad featuring people on Zoom, use stock footage or repurpose something old, we made what we wanted. What it required was lateral problem solving: turning a home into a studio, creating assets for use across platforms, developing a brand campaign, with product at the heart. Most of all what it required a team full of trust and passion and long may it continue. Special thanks to Christopher Ward for involving us in their world and to work Beehive, The Ideas Network, Hello and Bountiful Cow.
Which?
Consumer champions in lockdown
Just because a large proportion of the country has ground to a halt doesn’t mean that Crafty client Which? has stopped supporting and looking after consumer rights. In fact, there is a huge amount of coronavirus related content, which explains your rights on everything from travel and shopping, to providing advice around scams. To support the ongoing work Craft needed to produce a plan to get this content out and to demonstrate to everyone just how much Which? is looking after consumers in this challenging time.
To do this we partnered with LBC, talkRADIO and talkSPORT to host present regular consumer advice features within top rating shows. During these features a Which? expert will be answering a number of questions each week in a live on-air interview - focusing on a different theme each week. This campaign went live last Monday and already the results are promising with listener figures showing that audiences are tuning in specially to listen.
You can listen to a clip here.
This week the theme will be concerning shopping – listen out on Nick’s Ferraris’ Wednesday show on LBC, Jim White and Natalie Sawyer’s show on talkSPORT, Mike Graham’s show Monday-Thursday on talkRADIO and Ian Collin’s show on a Friday on talkRADIO.
This is amplified by live reads and promotional trails and a sponsorship of The Guardian: Today in Focus podcast and The Economist podcasts.
Special thanks to the brilliant Which? team for working with us on this, and to Global, Wireless and Goodstuff for turning it all around so quickly.
St John Ambulance
Emergency Appeal
St John Ambulance are on the front line supporting the NHS in many aspects of the battle against coronavirus. As a charity, it relies on donations to fund all its operations, which during this time are being used at a much greater rate. One of the biggest hurdles the charity seeks to overcome is a wide general perception that they are part of the NHS, and whilst they do receive a small amount of government funding it doesn’t go far.
As with the Christopher Ward example mentioned above we had started to laydown plans for the year, which as February passed quickly became redundant. An emergency appeal instead was planned, which requires a clear ambition for an ROI in every channel combined with ensuring the appeal is seen by as many people as possible at an effective frequency.
To support the appeal, we were able to benefit from goodwill from Sky who supported our media spend with a very generous value offering to bolster our investment to give us a better chance at making a difference. Our campaign features different frontline volunteers in pieces to camera deployed across TV and social channels. You can see the content here. And donate here.
As we have been live for 2 weeks now, we have seen a brilliant response from the British public, even in light of the unexpected response to Captain Tom, the 2.6 challenge and other initiatives that have been given huge amounts of airtime in the media. Running multiple copy variants and using different CTA’s (text, phone and URL) has also enabled us to ensure we understand which mechanics are best at particular times of day or driving different donation amounts, crucial as we look to make the campaign even more effective in the coming weeks. Special thanks to Come The Glorious Day and Goodstuff for their help and support in getting the work made and live so quickly.
A Craft Thought Piece
Trust
This week Craft will be speaking at Specialist Works ‘Whats Possible Bitesize series’, on the topic of Trust. In an era where speed of communication relies on short-cutting truth in many parts of our world, we believe trust is a foundational pillar to business, and examine how it is changing and identify ten key trust-building behaviours for brands to utilise. Given the world we find ourselves in now we also look at how and in which ways brands should behave in a world affected by coronavirus and what this means for Trust. Keep your eyes peeled for stories on our Instagram channel as well as checking our blog for the full report.
Let us know what you think.
A Crafty thumbs up
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