Freeview Launches ‘Local Hero’ Ad Campaign
Cumbria, the first place in the UK to switch off its analogue TV signal, will this week be targeted by a Freeview ad campaign using “local heroes” to promote the service.
The press adverts will first appear in the Whitehaven News and will then run in other local press, including the West Cumbrian Gazette, over the next three months in order to reach the remaining 25,000 non-digital television set owners in the area before switchover starts on October 17.
The ads, which feature people from the local community such as Rob Romano the town cryer, carry the strapline ‘We’re all switching to Freeview’.
Freeview says that the local residents provide a picture of real-life in the community and help people understand the Freeview channels that will be available and how to receive them.
The press campaign will also be supported by brand advertising on local radio and a series of advertorials in local press.
Sophie Alexander, head of consumer marketing at Freeview, said: “By using well-known faces from Whitehaven to explain the benefits of Freeview, the creative has an immediate emotive connection with people living in the local area.”
The campaign has been created by 4creative and media buying has been handled by M2M.
The recent Ofcom/Digital UK Tracker survey revealed that half of all UK households have now converted all their TVs to digital (see Half Of All UK Households Have Converted To Digital).
This followed on from Ofcom’s Digital Progress Report, published in June, which showed that more than 80% of households in the UK now receive digital television services on their primary set (see Digital TV Penetration In The UK Exceeds 80%).
The organisation leading digital switchover in the UK, Digital UK, recently announced a number of measures to help retailers improve the quality of advice to customers on switching, after a national retail audit programme found that while 69% of stores were using the ‘digital tick’ symbol, only 32% could accurately explain the logo (see Digital TV Penetration In The UK Exceeds 80%).
Freeview: 08708 80 99 80 www.freeview.co.uk