Heart & Brain - TP's advertising characters since 2010

Not much had changed until a year ago TP launched a new campaign format which brought to life two distinctive advertising mascots – Heart and Brain – which personify the campaign’s core idea: Whether you listen to your brain or your heart, TP’s offer is always the best for you.

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Since their first TV spot, the new characters became extremely popular and evoked a lot of positive reactions which was quite a surprise for such a disliked brand as TP SA.  The main strength of this campaign is how the two characters are created, always in opposition to each other, but still having a strong emotional connection.  They don’t advocate TP’s offer in a direct way, they’d rather test it as any customer would.

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Heart is always emotional, brave, a bit naive and quick-tempered, whereas Brain prefers to think it over, sometimes he tends to be shy and over-intellectual, but he always shows a lot of patience and tolerance for Heart’s extravagant behaviour.

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The popularity of the campaign manifests itself in all areas – the mascots are a popular auction item at Allegro, a Polish auction and e-commerce portal; the TV ads score very high quantity of views on YouTube and a Facebook fanpage of Heart & Brain has just reached 520 000 fans thus becoming the 2nd most popular Polish fanpage on Facebook.

TP's Heart & Brain fanpage on Facebook - over 520 000 fans!

What are the other factors of this campaign’s success? For sure, continuity, regularity and good quality - TP delivers a new TV ad or an internet viral spot every couple of weeks.  Heart & Brain are not about one brilliant execution (although there surely were some outstanding ones), but about the repeated formula for success.

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Each new spot contains the same conflict of personalities between Heart and Brain, but it’s always set in a new environment or dressed up in a new surprising costume.  And it always has witty copywriting flavoured with a unique sense of humour!

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The business results of this campaign have been just acknowledged by the jury of Polish edition of Effie Awards which awarded Publicis Warsaw, the agency which created the campaign, with Grand Prix of 2011 edition of effectiveness contest.

TP's Heart & Brain - press adverts

Credit Agricole has grown for 117 years - from now also in Poland. You'll like it as me, Juliette Binoche

Juliette Binoche was one of three French actresses that were considered for the campaign – the other two were Audrey Tautou and Sophie Marceau.  The creative team which developed the idea of the campaign must have been inspired by a highly popular French movie Amélie (also known as  Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain) which contains a funny montage sequence in which Amélie (played by Audrey Tautou) tells us the things she likes and dislikes.  In the first TV spot – that launched Credit Agricole brand in Poland – Juliette Binoche reveals that she likes: simple things, chocolate, the look on the winner’s face, honesty, fairness, to have friends all around the world and things that have history.  She dislikes: financial gibberish, dishonesty, small print, empty promises and small banks that tell fairy tales…

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At the end of the spot we learn why we should fall in love with Credit Agricole  just like Juliette Binoche did – it’s because Credit Agricole has 117 years of history, ranks as one of the biggest banks in the world with over 54 million customers in 70 countries and still likes things that are sensible, fair and simple.  Juliette Binoche closes the ad by speaking some poor Polish – she says: Try to like it [Credit Agricole] as I do.  Credit Agricole’s Polish tagline is: Simple and Sensible [prosto i z sensem].

Credit Agricole's newspaper ad with Juliette Binoche

The rebranding campaign employs all the major media: TV, outdoor, internet and press.  What is a bit strange is that it completely ignores predecessor’s brand (Lukas Bank) and simply launches the new brand as if it entered the market out of nowhere. Lukas Bank was one of the key players in consumer finance segment in Poland – it was particularly strong in installment plan sales at some major retailers.  This affected the brand’s image and made it difficult to turn Lukas Bank into a universal bank.

I assume this might be the reason why Credit Agricole is not introduced as the successor of Lukas Bank which it obviously is as it owned the bank since 2001.   The second TV ad that followed the one with Binoche is a typical product-oriented spot which promotes the “first account” for students.  Its hero – a student – in the similar manner tells us things he likes and dislikes…

The campaign was created by a new agency called NestPoint.  The ad with Juliette Binoche was directed by talented Polish female director Małgorzata Szumowska and photographed by Michał Englert.  Below you may watch the Making of the ad.

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The new campaign communicates a special offer of internet called Internet Tamer, which users of Plus’ prepaid tarifs can have free-of-charge when they top their account. There’s a common belief among Polish consumers that using internet by mobile phone is very costly and this campaign and promotion intends to change this attitude by inviting consumers to test it for free.

Plus' billboard ad / copy: Try out the free-of-charge internet in your mobile

In the second TV spot the brave crew of the spaceship faces the command of self-destruction. The guys discuss how they dislike the self-destruction thing, especially that one of them has just activated the free-of-charge internet package with Plus.  The ad closes with the voice-over  urging us to try out the offer before it’s too late.

Orange's billboard / copy: This may be your place - win tickets for UEFA EURO 2012

Orange, one of the biggest mobile networks in Poland, is the main sponsor of the Polish team and just a week ago it launched its first major campaign that activates the sponsorship.

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Orange’s adverts announce a consumer promotion in which people who buy any Orange product and send a text message have a chance to win tickets for EURO 2o12 matches or the official UEFA EURO 2012 balls.  The ads also communicate the special website for the Orange sponsorship: http://www.2012.orange.pl.

Cisowianka's billboard / copy: Cisowianka, the official mineral water of Polish Football Team

Cisowianka, the popular Polish brand of mineral water, was one of the first marketeers that started to use the associations to EURO 2012 in its communication (the billboard campaign in Spring).  Two months ago Cisowianka started a new major TV campaign which showcases a bunch of schoolkids that illegaly enter a big football stadium to play a game.  Cisowianka’s new slogan states that it’s A source of good emotions.

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Biedronka [Ladybird] – the biggest retailer in Poland with over 1700 supermarkets across the country (owned by Portuguese company Jeronimo Martins) – is also one of the major sponsors of Polish National Football Team.  In the spring Biedronka started a funny TV campaign which featured Franciszek Smuda, the coach of Polish team.  At the press conference Smuda is to announce the names of the players who will represent Poland in EURO 2012 tournament.  To our surprise he starts reading the names of some random Poles who had never expected to be called to play for the national team…

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Biedronka’s commercial closes with the slogan:  We are all the national team.  The same slogan was employed for its billboard campaign.

Biedronka's billboard / copy: We are all the national team

Finally, let’s have a look at Warka, a Polish beer brand that for quite a long time now uses association to football as its main brand image component.  Now Warka is also one of the official sponsors of Polish National Football Team.  In Spring Warka kicked off its sponsorship with a joyful image spot which seems to take place at the Warka Brewery…  The ad introduced a slogan: Together We Represent Poland.

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The two 30″ TV ads showcase Tiger Energy Drink as an almost magical concoction that turns wimps into tough guys who can make it in any difficult situation they face.  The first ad – called “Office” – is slightly mysogynist as the protagonist has to handle a repulsive female boss whom he perceives as a fire-belching dragon…  The second spot – called “Stadium” – depicts a wimpish guy who outwits a bunch of hooligans at a football stadium.

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Both ads close with Tiger’s original tagline Power is back and direct the viewers to Tiger’s new brand website at: http://tigerpower.pl.  Unfortunatelly the website is not yet worth visiting – just basic things (news, ads, product range) – I suspect that Tiger’s Facebook fanpage is a more vibrant place, though it has only 2600 fans so far.

Tiger's brand website: www.tigerpower.pl

An independent, local shop from Warsaw called Brand Place is responsible for this campaign effort from Maspex. The TV ads were directed by Maciej Kowalczuk and produced by Lemon Film Studio.  The 3D animation was developed by The BUG and postproduction was made at Chimney POT.

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All the spots – that tend to be either 10 to 15 seconds long – depict the characteristic Tic Tac candies engaged in some small talk that ends up with a funny pun regarding freshness.

In the spot below a confused candy is looking for his box, comes across two other TicTacs to ask the way, but they start teasing and call him “Freshman”.

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The ads also introduced new flavours of Tic Tacs as the video below which features red (cherry) and yellow (passion fruit) Tic Tacs discussing the qualities of their respective tastes at some disco.  The yellow one wonders if their flavour is sweet or refreshing.

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For the summer period Ferrero launched a consumer promotion in which people who purchased at least 3 boxes of Tic Tacs and sent via text message or Facebook their receipt number could win 4 trips to Seychelles or hammocks and sunbeds as other prizes.

Bus shelter advertising for the Tic Tac's summer promotion in Poland (2011)

The summer promotion was communicated in outdoor ads as well as via a special TV spot (below) which directed consumers to Tic Tac’s website that included more details of the promotion.

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In July a new flavour – Intense Mint – was launched with the spot in which the Intense Mint Tic Tac undergoes psychoanalytic therapy due to his superiority complex.

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The latest spot - entitled Flowerpot - premiered just a few days ago and you may check it out below.

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Last but not least, it’s worth to mention that Tic Tac’s Polish fanpage on Facebook has been kept very active throughout the year garnering over 62,000 fans so far.  The simplicity of the campaign format made it easy and fast to create loads of comic strips that were regularly published.  Below you may see an example of such comic strips.

copy: - A real man should smell of horse, cigar and whisky! - You could as well call it "un-freshness" in three words

copy: Indulge in seduction

This time however the campaign is clearly targeted at young women by drawing obvious inspiration from the popular vampire genre of TV series such as HBO’s True Blood and showcasing the consumption of Kinder Bueno bar as invitation to an exciting flirt.

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The lavish 45-second TV advert – as typical for Kinder Bueno – features a catchy music track that is likely to become very popular thanks to the campaign exposure.  The song is called This World and it’s by a young Belgian songstress Selah Sue.  The TV campaign is supported by an outdoor campaign on billboards that bear a headline:  Indulge in seduction.

FoodCare's Tiger Black billboard ad / headline: Black is not a colour, Black is power!

Soon afterwards a new variant of Tiger, called Tiger Black, was also launched and FoodCare ceased to pay the license fee to Dariusz Michalczewski’s charity foundation claiming that Tiger Black is a new brand, not included in the agreement.  For Tiger Black’s advertising FoodCare often employed a slightly altered brand claim:  Power is Black  (Tiger’s original brand claim is:  Power is Back).

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As a result Dariusz Michalczewski and his foundation renounced the license agreement with FoodCare and turned to another Polish company called Maspex Wadowice, a successful producer of fruit drinks and juices under Tymbark brand name.  Michalczewski and Maspex signed an agreement which allowed Maspex to produce and distribute Tiger Energy Drink.  Consequently, FoodCare and Maspex started a prolonged legal battle to secure rights to the valuable “Tiger” brand – at some point in the end of 2010 there were two rival Tiger drinks available in the shops, but eventually courts denied FoodCare the right to use the name “Tiger” for any drinks production.  Therefore FoodCare rebranded its Tiger Energy Drink into Black Energy Drink, while the packaging still bears the image of tiger’s head with a statement that the company supports tigers in Polish zoo gardens…

A few weeks ago FoodCare started a massive outdoor campaign to launch the rebranded Black Energy Drink - the billboards (example below) depict in a very literal way how the old, well-known Tiger’s can is replaced by the new Black Energy Drink‘s can.  The campaign underlines the fact that the original Tiger’s flavour is now available in the new packaging.

headline: The Original Flavour - now in the new can

Of course Dariusz Michalczewski claims that Black Energy Drink’s packaging is too similar to Tiger’s brand identity and believes that it can mislead the consumers.   It seems that a new legal battle between Michalczewski and FoodCare is under way.   Nevertheless, Maspex – the new licensed producer of Tiger Energy Drink – quickly followed in FoodCare’s footsteps with its own outdoor campaign that began in August 2011.

The lay-out of the advert obviously resembles the original Tiger’s colour identity with the dominating blue & silver, but showcases the new can design.  It also features the brand’s original tagline:  Power is back!

There would be nothing special about this megaboard if not for the eye-catching 3D solution employed – it is the table that is standing out of the flat advert along with the big bottle of Żywiec Zdrój water, a fruit-flavoured variant.

In Poland people tend to choose mineral water which they can easily associate with its geographical source – this explains the big success of Żywiec Zdrój brand which is obviously identified with the area of Żywiec Beskids, a mountain range in the south of Poland as well as the Żywiec Landscape Park.  It is also the area that the famous Żywiec Brewery is located.  As you may see the megaboard also showcases the Żywiec Zdrój water within countryside landscape with mountains in the background.

The headline of the advert says:  It fills up the taste of each meal.  Żywiec Zdrój water is bottled and distributed by Żywiec Zdrój S.A., a Polish company established in 1992 in Cięcin, a small town near Żywiec.   The range of Żywiec Zdrój includes both natural, sparkling and several fruit-flavoured waters.

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The TV adverts are clearly inspired by the BBC cult 1970s sitcom Fawlty Towers starring John Cleese as Basil Fawlty, the rude proprietor of hotel called Fawlty Towers in the seaside town of Torquay.  In Plus ads the main male character called Desmond is resembling Basil Fawlty and his wife is obviously modelled upon Sybil Fawlty.  The campaign communicates the new promotion of 29 gr for the phone-calls within Plus network, regardless of how long the phone-call lasts.

Plus' billboard for the new pay-as-you-go offer with the hero of the new Sitcom format

The sitcom was also extremely popular in Poland and thus majority of the audience can identify the references included in the spots.  The second TV spot  takes place in the hotel’s restaurant and features the waiter character which clearly resembles the Fawlty Towers‘s Spanish waiter Manuel who spoke very poor English.   In the ad below Desmond says that the funny waiter is from Marseille…

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In the latest TV ad Desmond is caught red-handed by his wife as he climbs upon an attractive blonde hotel guest.  He cleverly explains that he’s been searching for the lady’s mobile phone which she apparently lost.  Suddenly the waiter from Marseille appears holding the missing phone…

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Plus’ British Sitcom campaign is developed by the creative shop called 303 (part of Y&R Group).  The cast of the TV spots is British and includes:  Paul Litchfield as Desmond and Kathryn Worth as Desmond’s wife.  The ads were directed by Simon Cheek and produced by Papaya Films.

Plus' print ad with Desmond's wife