Census 2011 campaign set for launch through Bray Leino
One of the largest marketing challenges of the decade, the 2011 Census campaign goes live today with a TV campaign created by Bray Leino aiming to garner maximum response rates from the 26m households across England and Wales.
Mailed out to householders by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) ahead of census day on 27 March, the results are used to shape investment in key public services during the next 10 years - making high response rates crucial for accurate forecasting.
Working in collaboration with the ONS to develop a marketing strategy for the 2011 Census is lead agency Bray Leino. The campaign includes TV advertising, outdoor, experiential and public relations and is the culmination of two years of comprehensive planning by Bray Leino, the ONS and its other partner marketing agencies and core stakeholders.
The partner agencies working with Bray Leino and the ONS include Elmwood, Four Communications, MediaCom and Linstock.
Oliver Doerle, census head of marketing, commented: “Working on such a complex project requires an experienced agency that can hit the ground running. Bray Leino has been integral in bringing together a number of partners and specialists to collaborate on the marketing communications programme and deliver the best possible solution for us both creatively and strategically. The robust marketing programme we now have in place is testament to this.”
The creative platform for the campaign is centred on the ‘Help tomorrow take shape’ concept. It features purple origami items building on the census’ purple C logo identity, crafted into objects such as buses and hospitals, representing the public services that are prioritised and planned using census information.
Starting tonight, the first of three distinct campaign phases - to educate and encourage census completion – is marked by the launch of the national television advertising campaign.
Filmed by renowned director Stuart Rideout of Ridley Scott Associates, the 30 second TV ad will reach a nationwide audience through its broadcast on ITV, C4, C5, Daybreak/GMTV, top satellite stations on Freeview and pay per view platforms, as well as ethnic stations.
As well as a national outdoor presence, the television campaign will be supported by a purple origami branded double decker bus taking its maiden voyage around London this week. Hosted by the ONS team to raise awareness and answer questions in a variety of languages, during February and March, the bus will also visit several London boroughs before embarking on a nationwide tour, visiting 11 major cities including Cardiff and Manchester.
The second phase of the campaign – which goes live on 18 March when census questionnaires have started arriving in people’s homes – will see the debut of three ‘call to action’ TV advertisements. These ads will encourage people to complete their census and appear on all main commercial terrestrial and satellite TV channels.
The third phase of the campaign begins on 7 April and reinforces the need for everyone in every area to complete their census form.The outdoor campaign supports the work of the census collectors calling on households who have not yet responded.
Bruce Hutton, Bray Leino chief executive, said: “The census project has afforded us the perfect opportunity to put our experience of complex, multi-partner campaigns into practice. Given the fact that the information collated by the census is so important, as it is used to plan our future hospitals, schools and public transport, our campaign literally had to reach every household in the country.
“Not many briefs have a target audience of ‘everyone’ which is interesting in itself. Add to that the multi-cultural challenges and shifting fabric of the UK and you have a challenge that any agency would love to work on – as indeed have we.”