One marketer’s three year journey to transform The AA brand

“My mission when I joined was to think about how The AA could be more than just a breakdown company and move away from being compared with Green Flag and the RAC. But I didn’t want to shake anything up too much immediately.”

Shelving his plans, Harrison switched gears to focus on the work The AA was doing to help the British public during the pandemic, like assisting ambulance and NHS staff – running with the line ‘Keep Britain moving.’

Once it was clear people would soon be back on the roads, Harrison began working with Adam&Eve DDB on a post-lockdown campaign. “At that moment, it was about when drivers get back on the road – how do we be that brand that is front of mind and owns that moment?”

Consumer research showed the public was excited about the end of lockdown and wanted to celebrate. “They didn’t want an ad that pulled at emotional heartstrings, like running to hug my children who I haven’t seen in however long or my granny in Scotland.” This informed the ‘Love that Feeling’ work with Tukker the Dog, which ran in December 2020.

Then, just when Harrison thought he was clear of reactive marketing and ready to get started on his long-term plans, the fuel shortages hit and EV demand skyrocketed. As a former telecom marketer, Harrison likened the EV surge to the switch from 4G to 5G.

To cater to growing EV drivers, The AA adapted during this period to offer EV cars in its driving schools, the option to buy or lease an EV, and equip its roadside breakdown support and accident claim staff with EV expertise.

“It was important for me that despite this being a small number of the driving population at first, The AA was seen to be ahead of the curve to ensure that EV drivers would also see us as their driving support brand,” he says.

Evolving The AA brand beyond roadside assistance

Historically The AA has been focused on promoting its breakdown service, with Harrison calling it the “core crown jewel product” in its portfolio despite having other offerings, ranging from driving schools to garages and road maps. His strategy is to get the public to think of The AA beyond the roadside. “There was always a bit of brand equity and heritage in that broader UK infrastructure in driving culture,” he says.

The first step for Harrison was to unite the internal services and ensure the product teams were working more cohesively. “That is so the customer doesn’t have to make as much of a linear distinction, which we know they don’t do, between the different products and services and start to think about the AA and all of its driving glory,” he says.

The next step was audience segmentation. Here The AA worked with Nick Baker, the founder of the strategic consultancy Stick and Twist, to identify the volume and value of The AA’s potential customer base. Baker used life stage-based segmentation to identify moments in people’s lives related to driving. “You may have more propensity to engage with The AA and more need for different products and services at different stages,” he says. “We can then identify how we prioritize particular groups of people over others.”

Acknowledging that there is “never an unlimited marketing budget” over time, the plan is to “identify key pockets of people we want to speak to a little bit more.”

The final element of Harrison’s plan is to reaffirm The AA’s business mission. Here Harrison delved into The AA’s history books to discover that The AA started in 1905 as a group of cycle scouts warning drivers about speed traps. “The summation of that was creating confidence for drivers,” Harrison says. Giving confidence to drivers was then tested internally and externally with healthy results.

From there, the strapline ‘It’s OK, I’m with The AA’ was born. “I wanted the next ‘Should Have Gone to Specsavers.’ What is the simple line that everyone’s going to start talking about that sums up that ultimate, unshakable confidence that when you’re with the AA, nothing matters, whether you’ve misplaced your keys or put the wrong fuel in your car.”

The TV ad, created by The Gate, features ridiculous personal disasters managed by seemingly calm individuals who then say: ‘It’s OK, I’m with The AA.’ Along with the TVC is supported by out-of-home, cinema, social and radio.

“This campaign has been embedded all of our advertising and comms from a tactical point of view, in a completely commercial strategic approach,” he says.

“Those first two years then really were about reacting to change in the driving world,” Harrison says. “I had a bedrock in my mind of where the AA could go, but I couldn’t tackle that immediately.” But now Harrison has finally seen the fruits of his labor.