Confused.com shuns 'dreadful' ad for new helium spot

Confused.com has unveiled the second instalment of its “Just Used Confused.com” platform, with a campaign that visualises the emotional relief of getting a great insurance deal, by turning people into inflatable, helium-filled versions of themselves.

Devised by Leo Burnett and directed by comedy director Jeff Low, the campaign aims to dramatise the freeing moment customers experience after using Confused.com, with everyday people floating blissfully before finally being brought back down to earth by awkward real-life interactions.

The campaign is fronted by a 30″ film titled Wife, which opens with “Helen”, who has just saved money on her insurance. Newly liberated from the weight of her worries, she floats to the ceiling with a dramatised puffing sound as she inflates and drifts skyward. But when her partner calls out, “Mum, Helen adores you. She would love the company,” her relief is suddenly punctured by reality. “No, I don’t like your mum,” she replies flatly from the floor.

Two further 30 second spots films – Dad and Neighbour – will follow later this month, both continuing the theme of characters no longer being weighed down by the cost and stress of insurance.

In Dad, Glen’s float is interrupted by learning his daughter is getting married, while in Neighbour, a peaceful drift is cut short by an awkward interaction with his neighbour mid-toothbrushing.

All creative closes with Confused.com’s distinctive “whistle” – Roger Whittaker’s Finnish Whistler — in a nod to the first instalment of the Just Used Confused.com platform launched last year.

Each of the films will be supported by cutdowns across TV, SVOD, BVOD, cinema, radio and social and run nationwide across the UK for 12 months.

The work was created in partnership with fellow Publicis Groupe agency, Zenith, which handled media and planning; delivering a media approach which will aims to build brand awareness among insurance customers across the UK.

The new campaign builds on last year’s launch of the Just Used Confused.com platform, created to tap into a national appetite for celebrating the feeling of saving money, and a sense of control in the face of everyday chaos.

By freeing people from the time, cost and emotional weight of insurance, the platform is designed to position Confused.com as an antidote to insurance angst, brought to life through simple, comedic visual metaphors.

Confused.com head of advertising and social media Maria Howell-Jones said: “Last year’s campaign gave us a distinctive creative territory to build on. This next chapter lifts it further… literally. We wanted to create work that’s light, clear and memorable, and that keeps building meaning behind our brand promise: that Confused.com is the antidote to insurance angst.”

Biscuit Filmworks director Jeff Low added:”Most ads are dreadful. I think these are not. I hope you like them as much as I enjoyed making them with Leo Burnett.”