It’s one of the biggest marketing communications challenges of the decade. The brief for the 2011 Census campaign – in a nutshell – is to reach every one of the 26 million households in England and Wales.
As lead agency of a campaign which includes TV advertising, outdoor, digital, experiential and public relations, the next few months are the culmination of two years of work with the Office of National Statistics (ONS) and our other partner marketing agencies and core stakeholders.
The challenges of this project, aside from its scope and scale, include targeting hard-to-reach audiences, using social normative messaging to produce behavioural change, and producing multi-language campaigns.
The big idea
Help tomorrow take shape
The creative platform for the campaign is centred on the ‘Help tomorrow take shape’ concept. It features purple origami items building on the census’ purple C logo identity. These have been crafted into objects such as buses and hospitals, representing how the valuable information gained from the census directly influences how public services are prioritised and planned.
The campaign
The launch of the national television advertising campaign this week kicks off the first of three phases over the next few months.
As well as a national outdoor presence, a purple origami-branded double decker bus takes its maiden voyage around London this week.
Hosted by the ONS team to raise awareness and answer questions in a variety of languages, during February and March the bus will also visit several London boroughs before embarking on a nationwide tour of eleven major cities.
“Not many briefs have a target audience of ‘everyone’ which is interesting in itself. Add to that the multi-cultural challenges and shifting fabric of the UK and you have a challenge that any agency would love to work on – as indeed have we.”
Bruce Hutton, Bray Leino Chief Executive
The final word
“Working on such a complex project requires an experienced agency that can hit the ground running. Bray Leino has been integral in bringing together a number of partners and specialists to collaborate on the marketing communications programme and deliver the best possible solution for us both creatively and strategically. The robust marketing programme we now have in place is testament to this.”
Oliver Doerle, Census head of marketing
