Hiscox spoofs Specsavers and Weetabix in latest brand push

Alex Sword

Editor

The Financial Services Forum

Hiscox has launched the latest iteration of its “most disastrous campaign ever”, highlighting the dangers of copyright infringement.

The billboards parody adverts by Specsavers, Weetabix and Cillit Bang to show how Hiscox insurance can protect small businesses which accidentally infringe copyright.

The ads are the latest move in a campaign developed by creative studio Uncommon, with media planning by Total Media.

In an unusual twist, the campaign sees the roll out of specially built outdoor executions which mirror the risks highlighted by the ads, such as typos, misspellings and misprinted logos. For example, one poster features water cascading across it to illustrate the dangers of burst pipes.

Ed Birth, Head of Brand at Hiscox, explained in a recent interview that the brand campaign came after a period when the insurer had increasingly drawn into more measurable performance marketing. It has already produced significant results for the firm in terms of spontaneous awareness as well as in click-through rates from advertising.

Nils Leonard, Co-founder at Uncommon said: “At a time when lots of people are playing with their own logos, we thought we’d play with everyone else’s. Long running ideas with such a clear and disruptive format are rare to find, and a mark of this campaigns’ power is a moment when even other brands are happy to play a role. Disaster as a creative idea for Hiscox may have started in a B2B world but it’s now disrupting pop culture in unignorable ways, we are grateful and proud of our partnership with the brilliant team at Hiscox and the excellent brand partners that agreed to play a part.”

Fiona Mayo, Chief Marketing Officer, Hiscox UK said: “While this ad is playful in nature, the risk of accidentally infringing copyright is a very real one that many of our customers face as they go about their business. We’re grateful to Specsavers, Weetabix and Cillit Bang for their help in bringing this danger to life in such a striking way. Copyright infringement is a particularly thorny area for our customers in marketing, media and creative industries, where assets that might feature in their work for clients like music or photography, are often protected. But it doesn’t stop there; from software codes and databases to sculptures and architecture, the risk of infringing copyright exists in most sectors and this campaign is just one way of illustrating this.”

Ed will be speaking about Hiscox’s work at our upcoming showcase of winners from the Awards for Marketing Effectiveness.

 

Previous article

Monzo builds on brand position with business banking campaign

Next article

M&G Investments draws on Off Menu for podcast inspiration

Get access to valuable thought leadership from the financial services marketing industry

Keep up-to-date with current trends and changes across marketing and financial services is vital in this fast-moving business environment.