Co-op Bank starts trial of Good Loop’s ethical ad tech
The Co-operative Bank is trialling Good Loop’s ethical ad tech in the next phase of its ‘People with Purpose’ campaign with a view to making it a regular fixture in its media plans if the response is positive.
Co-op campaign
Good Loop’s technology incentivises people to watch video ads online by giving them the chance to ‘unlock’ a charity donation at the end of the spot. The charity receives 50% of the ad revenue with a reduced cut then going to the publisher and Good-Loop as income.
Publishers that have signed up to support it include The Guardian, Stylist, and The Economist while brands like Coco-Cola and Unilever are among those to have been early experimenters in running ads through the system.
Co-op Bank is the latest to trial it as it looks to extend its current ad campaign, which launched in April to aid the reappraisal of the brand following the 2013 scandal that saw a £1.5bn black hole discovered in its accounting and chairman Paul Flowers arrested on drug charges.
Amid other similarly embattled banks touting their “ethical” credentials, the Co-op is hoping to cut through with the advertising push that highlights the “purpose” of its staff and customers.
Though it’s still ongoing, early analysis suggests that 29% of people think it’s ‘a genuine message’ from the Co-op while 25% think it's ‘believable’.
However, it wanted to “demonstrate” its commitment by using its paid media spend to support charities. Two-thirds of its customer based are already likely to donate to charity so it’s hoping it’s a tactic that will resonate.
“We’ve taken the opportunity to use Good Loop as part of our ‘People with Purpose’ campaign because we felt it was a great fit for who we are as a bank. This was an exciting decision for us, choosing this platform means we can facilitate a different model of advertising and one we’ve never used before,” said marketing director Alastair Pegg.
“There can be negative commentary about digital marketing, but we genuinely believe this kind of approach goes a long way to bringing out the best of what can be achieved with digital marketing, and we’re really glad we’re adding benefit to three of our charity partners through working with Good Loop.”
Charities set to benefit include Center Point, Refuge and Amnesty International.
Omnicom media agency Hearts and Science introduced Co-op to the technology and it will be the first time that the agency has used it for any client.
“From a media perspective certainly we think it holds a lot of promise. This test will be the proof point. If it shows strong engagement levels and resonates then there’s no reason we wouldn’t look to support Good Loop and put it in our consideration set moving forward,” added Garrett O'Reilly, managing director of Hearts and Science.
Good-Loop has courted investment from purpose-driven brands with its revenues more than doubling last year. The business has raised over £200,000 for charity since launching in 2016 and it’s on track to reach its goal of £5m by 2020.