Ad's a dud? No worries, says Tower

By GEORGINA BOND


Tower Insurance is battling a new breed of troublesome "worries" in its latest series of television commercials.

The brown, furry, contrary creations of Auckland advertising agency Generator have taken on fresh personalities in what marks a new direction for the 18-month-old campaign.

Despite winning the category for the worst television commercial at last week's Fair Go commercial awards, Tower and Generator agreed the campaign had had an impact on viewers which warranted its being developed further.

Tower marketing manager Merran Anderson said it was time to "breathe new life into the campaign" and the new commercials, now in the second week of screening, were more entertaining and offered "intelligent humour".

Generator said now the concept of insurance worries was well-established with viewers, the new series would extend the story line towards the notion that Tower could take the worries away.

Enter Tower's new "worry catcher" characters - Sarah and Stu - who hunt down "worries" in a park ranger-type fashion.

While strategic planner James Mok described the original worries as "fat round balls with stumpy legs", Generator has now given them arms, horns, fangs and habitually destructive behaviour which help bring customer worries to life.

Mok said personifying an intangible concept like a worry made play of people's real worries.

Account director Michael Pryor said the worries campaign was a departure from traditional insurance advertising which dwelt on disasters and presented the negative side to insurance claims.

However, people had equally valid everyday insurance worries and the agency believed people were reassured by an insurance company that was seen to address those more minor concerns.

Mok said he thought it was important to humanise insurance companies, which was what the Sarah and Stu characters were designed to do.

"They personify the people at Tower - friendly folk who enjoy helping people. There's the notion it's a profession," he said.

Tower took last week's Fair Go award on the chin.

"We know not everyone's going to like what we do, but we obviously got some cut-through," said Anderson.

She said that could have been a reflection of the fact the original advertisements had reached their expiry date. But she didn't see the award as a negative, pointing to a number of examples of the ways "worries" had captured viewers' imaginations.

Worries had inspired the icing on an entry in a Lower Hutt cake competition, the creations of a Waikato ponga log carver and the shape of a hedge in the Bay of Plenty.

"There's a lot of fertility in the idea and it seems to be engaging people."

Anderson said the volume of inquiries to Tower's phone centre had risen between 12 and 20 per cent since the campaign was launched - a sign it had improved brand awareness.

The campaign had also seen considerable internal success, by helping to sharpen the customer focus of staff in a simple and accessible way.

Generator described a two-minute launch commercial, which introduces Sarah and Stu to viewers, as being friendly, welcoming and unpatronising television comedy.

Creative director Tony Bradbourne said the agency had steered away from a cheap, glossy style of commercial and had tried to make the ads as believable as possible.

Twelve television commercials to be rolled out over the next few months will focus on the big insurance worries of house and contents, vehicle and holiday insurance. A supporting print campaign will drill down into some of the more niche insurance package offers.

Pryor said there was plenty of scope for the campaign to keep developing in the future.

"There are all sorts of worries to be brought to life and many more stories we can tell about the Sarah and Stu characters," he said.