The final instalment of Thinkbox’s five-year ‘Harvey’ campaign demonstrates the real power of TV advertising. Jessica McGreal reports
Since 2010 Harvey has graced our screens with the aim of demonstrating the emotional power of television advertising in order to drive behavioural change. The brainchild of Thinkbox, the marketing body for UK commercial TV, this three-part series has seen the black and white terrier use adverts to tell emotional stories about home, friendship, love and family.
Ditching an outdated B2B model, the organisation chose to try something new by focusing solely on what worked for this channel. Andrew MacGillvray, marketing director at Thinkbox, explains: “With the ‘Harvey’ campaign we turned the rules of traditional B2B marketing on their head by adopting lessons of what is proved to work best in our own medium – mass reach, fame, emotional engagement – and adding them to the more familiar B2B techniques of segmented communication and rational evidence to produce, what we hope is, a new B2B formula for success.”
A love story
Premiering on Boxing Day 2014, ‘Harvey and Harmony’ is the third and final installment of the ‘Harvey’ campaign and will run throughout 2015. The film shows Harvey using TV advertising to persuade his owner to let the love of his life and their puppies live with them.
Harvey’s owner is confused when an elegant white poodle turns up at his door with a suitcase. The terrier uses TV to explain their love story. In the film Harvey is seen meeting a selection of unsuitable partners at a speed dating event, until he finally meets Harmony the poodle. After a whirlwind romance and a string of dates, including a trip to the National History Museum and Yoga, the terrier proposes with a pink diamond-encrusted dog collar. As the clip ends, his owner reluctantly lets Harmony in followed by a surprise litter
of puppies.
Created by agency Red Brick Road, the sweet story is set to Glenn Medeiros’ Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You.The broadcast activity includes an extensive video on demand campaign on ITV.com, 4OD and Sky. Meanwhile, online display, DM, email and social media will support the film. Previously, TV viewers have seen Harvey use the power of TV advertising to get adopted from a rescue home; and use the channel to convince his owners not to throw his best friend, a scruffy toy rabbit, in the bin.
Creative challenges
Before embarking on a campaign of this magnitude, Thinkbox had to overcome various creative challenges.
Firstly, the marketing body had to ensure the creative would appeal to two distinct audiences. Primarily, the activity had to hit a chord with television decision makers, such as advertisers and agencies, as well as those who influence them, including the media and consultants. Secondly, in order to highlight the impact of TV advertising, the campaign had to appeal to a much bigger audience: the British public.
The next challenge was to create emotional stories that resonated with both audiences. Instead of discussing the advantages of TV advertising, Thinkbox chose to dramatise the effectiveness of this channel in a funny and engaging way by following Harvey’s life.
Television fame
Over four million online views and an array of awards later, it’s clear the organisation met its objectives. To date the new ‘Harvey and Harmony’ ad has received over 900,000 YouTube views. Meanwhile, Harvey has even been awarded ‘Celebrity Dog of the Year’ by the Dogs Trust, and gained more than 41,000 Facebook Fans. These achievements illustrate the power of television when matched with an engaging story.
MacGillvray stresses the power of this medium: “Advertisers should invest in what works best, and all the major impartial studies show that TV advertising continues to work better than anything else. It generates the highest absolute volumes of sales and profits while also delivering the best ROI. We watch as much linear TV as 10 years ago and new screens are extra. We watch more TV ads at normal speed than we have ever done, creating amazing value for advertisers.”
Retirement
After half a decade of success, the organisation has decided that now is the right time to bring Harvey’s story to an end. Looking ahead the brand will be focusing on events as well as other key marketing activities that will support two new major pieces of research. Thinkbox’s marketing director jokes: “Of course, in dog years, Harvey has an eye on retirement. He wants to improve his painting skills in particular, and have even more time to watch a bit more of his favourite telly.”
