How Ogilvy and AAMI Captured The Charm of Little Athletes In the Making
As Aussies gear up to support their sporting giants, it will be no surprise when our youngsters take it upon themselves to mimic their heroes.
We all have memories of pretending to be our heroes as children, whether you were slaying dragons or diving headfirst into pillows off of a makeshift diving board.
While we knew the dangers of a scraped knee or a bumped head, the bigger worries of a smashed window or chipped plasterboards weren’t on our radars.
Ogilvy and AAMI Insurance does know of these dangers, however, and have released a campaign made to make audiences laugh and smile at the endless possibilities presented to children when they are allowed to play.
Hilary Badger from Ogilvy Melbourne spoke to LBB’s Casey Martin about testing frisbees for accurate damage portrayal, and what it means to work with an iconic Australian brand.
LBB> Talk us through the inspirations behind this spot. Were there any funny stories from your own childhood that influenced the creative decisions?
Hilary> It’s universally true that kids love to imitate their heroes. And as Australia gears up for a certain global sporting event in France, the time seemed right for us to let the nation know that AAMI customers are covered if things go awry. As the scenes for the campaign developed, many childhood stories came out, including a shotput through a window – which could have been lifted straight from the ad. Of course, we also spent a lot of time debating the logistics of each pitfall. Test frisbees were hurled at windows, all in the name of accuracy.
LBB> When working with an iconic Australian brand, what are some of the key details you know you have to get right and how do you incorporate something a bit new?
Hilary> As Australia’s only national insurer, AAMI is one of Australia’s biggest and best-known brands. That means you can have a lot of impact creatively working on the brand because it has such a huge presence. And because Ogilvy and AAMI have established a long and very successful relationship over more than 20 years, the entire team on both sides know and love the brand. There’s a very clear world for AAMI – we’re not doom and gloom, but a reassuring presence to make it a bit easier when little things go wrong. When you add to that the song, tagline and other brand codes like the logo and colour, it’s a very strong springboard to work from. The key to doing something new is to take those elements and work with them, not against them, to create something that feels both totally right and totally new.
LBB> What challenges presented themselves during the creation process? What did you learn from them and how did you overcome them?
Hilary> The process was a smooth one overall. The creatives Jenny and Anthony presented this idea in their first review, we presented it to the AAMI team in our first meeting on the project and they loved it straight away. For an ad that feels so charming on the screen, though, there was, of course, a lot of hard work and energy involved in bringing it to life. Conceptually, there are always challenges in any financial services campaign, as it’s important to accurately represent what insurance does and doesn’t cover. In the 18 months that I have been working on the AAMI brand I have learned a lot about the insurance category! Production was another mountain to climb because the teams at Hogarth and Scoundrel didn’t have a lot of time in pre-production. But there was great energy behind this right from the start, which helped us all pull together to get it done. The AAMI team is very creatively ambitious, and they love ideas, which sets a tone that makes looming deadlines easier for everyone.
LBB> When working with such a solid brand identity, do you find the creative process easier or harder? How does it compare to working with a brand who are building their identity?
Hilary> In a massive display of fence sitting, I would have to say I enjoy both. Just before AAMI launched, we produced a new brand platform campaign for another Suncorp brand, NSW insurer GIO. For that project we spent a lot of time finding a tone, visual style and narrative voice – in addition to getting the insurance bits right. With AAMI, the world is so clear that the challenge is the reverse one – how to make it seem different and fresh.
LBB> What were the highlights of this campaign? Why did those moments resonate with you?
Hilary> We have some new joiners at Ogilvy – Chris Andrews as GCD and Jenny Fang and Anthony Eid, a creative team. Seeing these three collaborate so effortlessly on this project and realise their ambition for it was a personal highlight for me. Shoot highlights – all of the kids. Casting it was so hard for Tim Bullock the director because there were so many great kids to choose from. Seeing the kids doing their stuff on the shoot days was very fun and exciting because we really knew we had something special. And I also enjoy DOP Jeremy Rouse’s imagery. I could stare at it all day.
LBB> This campaign also touches on incidents that aren’t the first to pop to mind when choosing home insurance, how does this play towards AAMI’s marketing strategy?
Hilary> A lot of people have commented that they find this ad extremely relatable. Everyone either has kids or has been a kid, and so recognises those moments of sporting ambition that don’t quite hit the mark. Whilst these aren’t classic insurance incidents, they are truly Australian moments, which feels right for Australia’s national insurer.
