Screwfix favours contextual idents over ads to afford TV presence all year round
UK trade mag Screwfix is looking to get more out of its TV spend by running personalised idents on content across Dave, ITV and Sky. With media partner Wavemaker, the market-leading mag is keen to keep its place by changing up how it measures marketing effectiveness.
Screwfix hopes for wider exposure with name-a-like ident drive
The ‘Legends of the Game’ campaign has returned after debuting during the World Cup. It championed people who had the same names as famous England footballers.
Now, Screwfix customers who share the same name as comedians will appear in idents before Dave shows. Similarly, darts name-a-likes will appear before ITV’s darts coverage and footballers will feature in Sky Sport’s EFL (adding to the trade mag’s sponsorship of the league and the national side).
These contextual idents, Screwfix said, brought to life a legend relevant for each channel’s audience.
To this end, the idents will see appearances from the likes of Al Murray, Jo Wilkinson, John Richardson, Alex Horne, Andy Parson, Kathryn Ryan, Bobby George, Stephen Bunting, Phil Taylor, Darren Fletcher, and Liam Cooper.
Caroline Welsh, Screwfix brand and marketing director, said: “Our Legends campaign during the World Cup was a moment in time for us and an opportunity our customers were thrilled to be part of. We are delighted to be introducing some more of our customers to the nation.”
That campaign delivered the brand’s highest-ever positive sentiment on social media (79%), brand image also increased during this period from 48% to 57%. Additionally, its ITV coverage reached an estimated 20m people or 75% of English households, largely thanks to the home nation’s semi-final run at the World Cup.
Off the back of this, the brand believes it has found the media mix that will hammer home its message for their least spend.
Welsh said: “We share our category with a lot of brands – online and retail. We need to find and create opportunities that give us maximum coverage for the money we have. We need to show ROI at the highest possible attribution and we must minimise our wastage. Every penny counts.”
To this end, Screwfix is using idents that should click with the content and its viewers, while also shining a light on its name-a-like customers.
She said: “We learned the power of emotion – being part of a moment in time was phenomenal. We know from our research that football plays a big role in our customers' lives, so when the opportunity came up to use authentic real tradespeople, we had to go for it. When it comes to our customers and our brand, Screwfix and football are a natural combination. We exceeded all our consideration targets but what we are most proud of is being voted ‘best positive sentiment’ of all the brands socially.”
The media buys across the three broadcasters and three genres (comedy, darts, football) outlines the brand’s knowledge of its shoppers. This ident approach allows it media coverage throughout the year without relying on traditional ad spots.
“For us its always about being where our customers are and stretching our budgets as far as we can. Pure spot advertising it just not possible for us all year round. We have identified what our customers do and where they are, and Dave has always been one of the channels our customers love, so it just made sense.”
The buying team at Wavemaker “challenged themselves on how to do things differently”. Welsh said the agency looks at “ROI in a different way”. This is measured using brand love and maximum impact against the audience.
She concluded: “Instead of a traditional spot buy, the partnerships are collaborating and bringing to life the legends which are relevant for the channel’s audience.”
The creative was delivered by Ogilvy and will run into early 2019.