Elder: humans grow roots too

Key Points

Elder wanted to build trust and connection through the emotion of TV.

• The campaign broke all records, delivering the highest ever month of new customers and increases in leads.
• Reach of the core ABC1 45+ audience grew by two thirds year-on-year and brand awareness increased by more than half from the first burst alone.
• Brand awareness increased 59% year-on-year.
• Web traffic increased by 56%.

The Challenge

Not everybody wants to put their parents in a care home, but most of us do in the end.  Elder was created to change this and allow families to provide live-in care for their loved ones.

Although the pandemic provided a clear opportunity for Elder to bash care homes to encourage live-in care instead, Elder refused. Morally, it felt wrong to guilt-trip families and care homes had already had a bad rap.

When it comes to their loved-ones’ safety, people like established, trusted brands. Elder needed to build a brand, fast. It was essential that they build a unique and positive brand image for the future that showed them as the most emotionally appealing care brand.

Fortunately for Elder, care category advertising tended to be bland and generic. By harnessing the power of TV to create an emotionally engaging and relevant campaign at scale, Elder knew they could disrupt the category, and grow fast.

The targets were ambitious.  Elder wanted to more than double promoted awareness by the end of 2021 by delivering high advertising cut-through. They also wanted to increase leads by 10% year-on-year.

The TV Solution

Elder used their data and insights to uncover a powerful human truth:

As people age, the number of connections they have with other people decrease, but as those connections reduce, the importance of those connections grow. This emotional need for connection is where Elder’s proposition lies, as it matches those needing live-in care with carers that they bond and connect with.

This led to a hugely impactful creative proposition: humans have roots too. Move the person and you sever those roots.

The Plan

With an emotionally charged, brand-building proposition, TV was natural fit.  It packs the strongest emotional punch, it is more trusted than any other media and it delivers both short and long-term return. It also delivers both scale and reach quickly.

The campaign launched on Boxing Day and targeted a film-heavy festive schedule and thought-provoking programming that aligned with the emotional messaging. Programme choices were selective to make the most of the modest budget and story-telling opportunities. Trusted, reputable TV brands helped build the trust component of Elder and by maximising shared viewing opportunities, it was easier to target families when they were under one roof.

The campaign utilised the more emotional need-states of TV viewing, particularly those that offered escapism or distraction during the pandemic to help the campaign gain cut-through. This was complemented by a targeted daytime burst to generate leads, which was complimented by a paid search and social strategy.

Results

The campaign demonstrated that emotion and empathy isn’t just the right thing to do when it comes to customers making life-altering decisions, it’s a commercial imperative.

Commercially the campaign broke all records, delivering the highest ever month of new customers and staggering increases in qualified leads.

Reach of the core ABC1 45+ audience grew 66% year-on-year and brand awareness increased by 56.6% from the first burst alone and 59% year-on-year.

This was matched by action as site traffic increased 56% year-on-year and the power of TV was highlighted by the fact that upweighted regions drove 40% more traffic and double the amount of lead increases over non upweighted regions.

Databank

Sector: Services

Brand: Elder

Campaign objectives: To drive awareness, build the brand and drive leads

Target Audience: ABC1 adults aged 45+

Campaign Dates: The campaign ran from 26th December 2019 to 26th January 2020

TV Usage: 30” spots

Creative Agency: Love or Fear

Media Agency:  Running Total