Brief and objectives

To support an above the line TV advertising campaign, an online brand campaign was planned to run throughout October 2007. The objective across both media was to increase brand awareness and re-consideration for the Which? proposition. To achieve this objective the TV advertising campaign communicated that Which? is Îsurprisingly diverseâ as it tests and reviews a range of products and services. The particular objective of the online campaign was to mirror these messages as a means of raising awareness amongst a younger audience, who had been identified as not being as familiar with Which? as older age groups. The target demographic for the online campaign was male, aged 18-35, with emphasis on the upper end of this age group. Think tech-savvy young men hoping to buy their first home who regularly use aggregator sites to find deals online.

To fulfil the objective of generating brand awareness among the younger audience the creative was interactive. This enabled users to engage with the Which? brand and recognise the relevance of Which? information for them. By enabling the user to test different products the theme of diversity was also portrayed.

Strategy and solution to the brief

There were 2 creative elements to this campaign; a series of standard format banners and a rich media execution. Lateral worked with MC&C, who developed the media plan and schedule. The chosen sites included; Moneysupermarket.com, Thisismoney.co.uk, Kelkoo, Ciao, Pricerunner, Opodo, Amazon and Yahoo. These sites were identified as ones that the target demographic referred to for advice when buying products, financial and travel related services

Part 1 of the campaign: standard formats. Lateral produced a series of banners:

• The first creative execution focused on product testing, for sites like Kelkoo and Pricerunner. The banners were interactive, allowing users to choose from 3 products and 3 test methods ö throw, shake or crush. The idea was to use humour to communicate the depth of the Which? test methods and emphasise the importance of purchasing reliable products.
• The second creative execution focused on travel for sites like Opodo. The flash banners aimed to create doubt in the users mind about the source of advice using the message ãmake sure you know what youâre buyingä. This positions Which? as a source of independent and unbiased advice that can ensure you make the right purchasing decisions; even in subject areas that may not have previously been associated with Which?
• The third creative execution focused on finance for sites like Moneysupermarket.com. The flash banners re-iterated the strap-line; ãmake sure you know what youâre buyingä again to emphasise the relevance of Which? advice and to communicate the subject areas, like money, that are less associated with Which?

Part 2 of the campaign: Rich Media formats. Lateral produced an interactive video MPU advert. The video aims to communicate the in-depth, rigorous testing of Which? products.

"The Which? tester", a man in a red boiler suit, takes the thoroughness of Which? product testing to the extreme using a range of bizarre test methods; creating a humorous take on something that Which? takes very seriously. The user can select the product and the test they wish to carry out, for example testing a toaster with a chainsaw or a laptop with a blowtorch. All potential options were filmed and edited by Lateral, with user interaction via a flash menu.

The style of the ad is very dry and the deadpan approach of the presenter adds to the humour. To extend the creative a viral version of the ad has been created, editing the best interactions together and adding the anvil chorus music used in the TV advertisement.

Even though this was a brand campaign rather than a direct response campaign, it generated higher than expected levels of interaction with the banners.

• The actual Click Through Rate (CTR) 0.11% was nearly double the expected 0.06% CTR for a brand campaign.
• The campaign achieved an impressive 15.8% click to registration rate.
• Over 3,800 new trials to Which? Online were generated as a result of the campaign