Vitality's new VCCP campaign puts Stanley the dachshund in a bike basket to coach a struggling cyclist uphill, as the insurer pitches itself as your health's best friend.
Vitality has launched a new campaign starring Stanley, the miniature dachshund who has fronted its advertising for years. In the 60-second film, You Can Do It, Malcolm, a cyclist struggling up a hill gets an unexpected pep talk from Stanley, riding in the basket on the front of his bike, and makes it to the top. It is by VCCP and went out nationally this week on TV, social and radio, as Decision Marketing reported.
The campaign positions Vitality as “your health’s best friend”, the insurer that nudges, supports and rewards its members into healthier habits, and claims those habits can help members live up to five years longer. Tim McNaughton directed through Arts&Science, with Girl&Bear on content, Today Tomorrow Media buying the media and McCann on social.
Chief marketing officer Keith Kropman said the brand’s “prevention-first approach” can help members “build a healthier today and tomorrow”. VCCP creative director Liam Wilson called it “a much-needed dose of fun that celebrates the joy of living healthier”.
Insurance is a category where nobody wants to think about the product, because the product is something going wrong. Vitality’s trick for years has been to sell the opposite, staying well, and to put a small, cheerful dog in charge of saying so. Stanley is one of the few genuine brand characters in British financial services, and a consistent one, which is precisely the kind of asset effectiveness research keeps rewarding.
It also fits a clear pattern this autumn. Brands with a long-running character, like Go.Compare’s tenor, are finding the value is in using it well rather than replacing it. For the best examples of the form, see the Compare the Market meerkats.
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