NRMA takes baby steps with MercerBell
DM agency MercerBell and NRMA Motoring & Services have launched the first multi-channel awareness campaign for NRMA’s car servicing centres, NRMA MotorServe. The NRMA Baby digital campaign which includes social media activity, banner ads and a new landing page on NRMA’s website went live today.
Outdoor advertising will begin on June 20th, with ambient and local area marketing including direct mail and press to follow.
NRMA’s new MotorServe campaign uses babies as a metaphor for cars, playing on the insight that many people refer to their cars affectionately as their “baby”. The campaign makes the light-hearted connection that car owners want a ‘trusted’ place to take their car (or ‘baby’) to ‘keep them healthy’.
The TV ad shows car-sized babies leaving their garages and homes. A baby even makes a pit stop at a service station to re-fuel with milk. The ad finishes with a baby arriving at an NRMA MotorServe service centre, followed by the introduction of the campaign tag line, ‘Who else would you trust to look after your baby?’
NRMA MotorServe has been providing quality car servicing and repairs for customers and NRMA members since 2008. They provide a full range of mechanical services including servicing that still retains a car manufacturers’ warranty. Currently, there are nine service centres across the Sydney metropolitan region, Newcastle and Tuggeranong, ACT.
The NRMA MotorServe Baby campaign kicked off on 30 May with a TV commercial, which aired on Channel 9 during 60 Minutes.
MercerBell also continues to expand its client base with the recent appointment to work on Vodafone Australia’s marketing across all direct marketing projects, driving acquisition to Vodafone call centres.
The MercerBell Team
Senior Account Director – Emily Shepherd
Senior Account Manager – Iain Griffin
Creative Director – David Bell
Art Directors – Kevin MacNamara & Paul Critchley
Copywriters – Mike Boswell & Yu Ling Ong
Agency Producer – Baz Milas
Bellamy Hayden – Media agency
Production: Resolution Design
Director – Tim Dyroff
Music production: Turning Studios
Composer – Elliott Wheeler
30 Comments
A baby in place of a car? GENIUS!
wow
Love the TV spot, not to sure about the print…boo
Creepy….
What happens if you don’t consider your car as a baby?
good stuff. would have liked a explosive chase scene. but good stuff. well done Mike and Kev.
Creepy crawly…let down by very ordinary post…….as for babies doing ‘things ‘ in ads, been done before alot and i mean alot.
Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer an explosive nappy scene?
sweeeeeeet
Make sure they turn out right.
Personally, I find giant babies a bit menacing.
This reminded me of that big smiling Baby Sun character in The Teletubbies.
He might have been giggling the whole time but you could also sense a strange undercurrent – like he was about to call in a napalm strike on all those fluffy, little, free-ranging bunnies.
I don’t know, maybe that’s just me. Anyway, I’ve found it helps to talk about it.
does the music actually correspond to the pictures at all in the TV?
3.16 pm.
If you don’t consider your car as a baby then I guess you don’t care where you service it.
I’m a self-confessed, proud as punch car nut, and I reckon these are freaking horrible.
Sorry fellas, it’s a massive fail as far as I’m concerned, both professionally, and as part of your target market.
Oh come on Ben, how can you say this ad is horrible? You’re talking out your arse mate.
Ben, please leave the good name of the tribe of Benjamin and their descendants out of it.
But yes. Agree with you sir.
My wife loves it. Doesn’t mind this ad either, strange gal.
Good ad. Nothing more, nothing less. If you find this ad creepy or horrible then you must be a very strange nasty person.
@7:37
Couldn’t agree more.
If I was the post production company, I would be happy that my name got left off the credits. This looks shonky and 2nd rate. Was it done by a bunch of guys sitting at home on after effects or what?
Massive fail? What are you all bitter and twisted about?
I’m 100% with ‘unsettled’. Nothing but menace. On the whole, I thought the ad was moderately to extremely unwatchable, particularly a second time.
There is one shot that looks bodgy and stands out for being so. But for the life of me I cannot see anything that’s menacing or disturbing about this ad. It’s cute for gods sake!
Nice idea let down by horrendous post.
I promised myself I wouldn’t comment on this blog anymore, but I can’t resist passing judgment on this ad.
You see, when I worked on NRMA Motoring & Services I could have only ever dreamed of creating a spot this good. They are a difficult client with a lot of unique problems.
You have done your agency proud. Congratulations.
What 11:20 am said.
Made me laugh a little the first time I saw it. I rarely laugh at ads.
I think it’s a bit harsh saying this ad is extremely unwatchable. Do you hate kids? Do you need therapy?
Some of the above comments hit upon a spooky phenomenon: you never know what things will set off feelings of unease. Clearly, for some people it’s babies. Particularly OUTSIZE babies.
Some people are really scared of clowns. Now THAT’S scary.
Mumbrella Ad of The Month.
Yeh Baby, gotta be happy about that peolpe.
David Bell