Case Studies - Abbey

Client: Abbey

Agency: Pd3

Campaign: Abbey Mortgages

Brief:

To create a real-life tangible element to Abbey's TV advertising campaign strapline, "How much money have you lost on your mortgage this month?"

Target Audience:

• Young Professionals
• Homeowners
• Affluent urbanites.

Campaign Description:

Link Communication distributed 10,000 black leather wallets with a fake £50 note sticking out of the top. When the wallet was opened, the £50 note was revealed to be a communication from Abbey with the strapline from current TV treatment, "How much money have you lost on your mortgage this month?".

The campaign was measured with a telephone number and a website URL where consumers could find out the savings to be enjoyed with an Abbey mortgage. The wallets were placed across a range of locations where the target audience would find them, in a 'one to one' environment:

• City centre locations (shop changing rooms, ATMs, phone boxes, parking metres)
• Out of town locations (locker rooms in fitness club changing rooms, petrol pumps, buses, libraries)
• Door to door (on residential door steps)
• Evening locations (washrooms in bars, clubs and restaurants)

Results:

• 10,000 wallets were distributed across the five selected cities.
• Consumers appreciated the humour of the trick.
• The activity had a huge "viral" element to it. Once the first person had found it (e.g. in a washroom of a bar), they would take it back to their friends, and play the trick on them. Study showed that on an average evening, one wallet was passed around to 48 people, within one venue.
• The dedicated website received record numbers of hits on the weekend of the activity.