If you are like most people, you will be “double busy” searching for a new washing machine, as this time of year is apparently the “peak season” for laundry white goods. Luckily then, help could be at hand from Turkish electrical goods giant Beko, which is launching a £2m campaign to push its range which features AquaTech technology.
But unlike most home appliance ads, Beko has not gone for the shouty approach, instead it has got half the Barcelona football team on board, including Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Gerard Piqué to boot, as the brand just so happens to be the club’s main sponsor.
It opens with a young girl trying to persuade her seemingly sedentary dad to get his arse off the sofa and go training (complete with subtitles and voice dubbing which would make a Spaghetti Western look fully synced). When he tries to get out of it, up pop the Barça stars and he immediately jumps into action, rips off his shirt, and, guess what, it goes straight into the Beko washing machine, of course.
Cue shots of the new AquaTech at work, compared to a regular washing machine, designed to show how it washes clothes in half the time, with twice the care.
The ad then switches to shots of the dad in the gym, being put through his paces by the Barça boys, and ends with a group shot and everybody seems chuffed to bits (not quite sure why but presumably it is because their clothes are so much cleaner…)
The ad will air during prime-time shows throughout October, including The Great British Bake Off, Long Lost Family, Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions, Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Gogglebox, and will be supported by VOD, Sky AdSmart, digital, social media, PR and retail activation. In-store activity will aim to raise awareness of AquaTech, and also of the brand’s status as the UK’s best-selling large home appliance brand.
Beko UK & Ireland head of marketing Keval Shah said: “AquaTech is the biggest launch of the year for Beko, and this is evident in the strategic marketing plan we’ve developed. We’re aiming to reach as many households as possible during peak season for laundry sales, through as many touch points as possible. Our television advert has performed brilliantly in consumer testing, and we’re very confident it will deliver on sales as well as massively boosting awareness of our best-selling range of home appliances.”
So, what is the consensus around the Decision Marketing office? Will we be spending the weekend kicking our 20-year-old Bosch Classixx, wishing we had the joy of AquaTech? Will we trust in the Barcelona brand ambassadors to know best and join the white goods laundry rush? Will this campaign be paraded round Cannes as a creative beacon? Does anybody care?
Well, let’s face it, making a ground-breaking washing machine ad is tough going, so this is unlikely to land many gongs for creativity. In fact, it is a classic formulaic pan-European spot, although in its favour it does at least get the message across.
Whether Messi & Co will be enough to persuade British consumers of the joys of AquaTech is another matter…Surely most people only buy a new washing machine when their current one packs up and then brand and pricing become key? Still, according to Beko’s website, the firm has 400 million satisfied customers, so it must be doing something right…
Decision Marketing Adometer 6 out 10
