The challenge

Egg was looking for a communication vehicle that would be flexible enough to deliver different messages for the brand, but was also engaging enough to create a sense of excitement and get jaded consumers interested.

The revolutionary nature of Egg Money was one of the toughest challenges to overcome.

Customers can actually pre-pay money into their Egg Money account. While the money is sitting there waiting to be spent, it earns them interest. Then, as they spend it, they’ll earn cash back on anything they buy. If the customer goes into the red, they pay a much lower APR than they would with a typical credit card.

The product was an innovation, not just for Egg, but for the market as a whole. The communications solution was that Egg Money was such a revolutionary offering it had to be tested on real guinea pigs before it could be offered to consumers.

The TV solution

So how do you bring the benefits of such a revolutionary product to life? Well, as you can probably tell, you make a virtue of it. And that’s what the TV ads, with support of other media did so well, showing how easy it was for the guineas pigs to use Egg Money in a series of “experiments”.

First up, a trip to the Egg Research Lab to see the guinea pigs, being observed by white-jacketed scientists, as they try Egg Money out in the shops. The ad ends with a faux Russian accent saying: “Egg Money. Tested and approved by guinea pigs”.

Next up, we see a guinea pig driving a black cab, who explains the benefits of Egg Money.

The ads were filmed using actors dressed in specially constructed guinea pig suits. The actors were trained to move in the same way as the hairy rodents and the heads of real guinea pigs were added to the films in post-production.

The TV ads were the final element in an integrated marketing campaign that kicked off with online activity on September 19. The first TV ad ran from November 1 to November 10, with the second ad running from November 16 to December 10.

The ads were aimed at a mass audience and the media schedule reflected this including: Lost and Hollyoaks on C4, I’m a Celebrity and Coronation St on ITV1 and CSI on Five.

Other media used include radio and print.

Results

The guinea pig campaign is still running but now focuses on a different product. The campaign was so successful, that the guinea pigs are now being used to promote Egg Card.

The Egg Money campaign delivered rapid results boosting awareness and propensity to purchase.

Prompted awareness of Egg Money, which was 9% in October rose to 19% in November 2005, the month when the TV element of the campaign kicked in. This continued to rise to 25% in January 2006.

The number of consumers who agreed with the statement: “It made me think about Egg in a fresh/different way” increased by 13 percentage points to 20% in November 2005.

In the final month of TV, December 2005 total ad awareness for the campaign reached 34%.

All figures supplied by HPI Brand & Ad Tracking Study.

“We needed a campaign with real standout to create awareness of Egg Money and to get across the benefits of a really different product. Using guinea pigs in our TV ads and throughout other media has allowed us to do this in an engaging and informative way that has proven to be really successful for us.”
Alison Wright, Chief Marketing Officer, Egg Banking plc