MHR and Truant Break with B2B Norms with Endearing Brand Character, Harriet the Hamster

MHR – the specialist provider of HR, payroll and finance software and services, analytics and engagement software and services – has tasked advertising, media and music agency Truant London with creating a campaign that stands out in its category by featuring a new brand heroine: Harriet the Hamster.

Breaking on May 23rd, the campaign – called It’s time to experience SMARTER HR, PAYROLL & FINANCE – comprises online, press, D/OOH and content for media partnerships with publications including The Times.

Truant’s brief was to raise awareness of the MHR brand as an end-to-end software platform that caters for HR, payroll, and finance markets. Because this market comprises either big expensive integrated players or smaller specialists, Truant seized the opportunity to use the campaign to position MHR as the modern and, more agile and less expensive alternative, while encouraging businesses to break away from siloed data and slow business processes.

Truant’s solution was to develop a big conceptual idea that brings to life business scenarios that are impacted by having the wrong data. But to make these scenarios more engaging, the campaign unexpectedly centres around Harriet: a charming hamster who acts as a metaphor for businesses that are, in effect, on a hamster wheel doing the same old thing but expecting different results.

Emma Isichei, chief marketing officer at MHR, said: “We were looking for an agency that really understood our company and objectives and develop a breakthrough campaign that enables us to stand out in what is a very crowded and often vanilla market in advertising terms. They have completely encapsulated our brief with Harriet.”

Truant’s Chris Jefford, CEO and co-founder, said: “MHR’s new campaign introduces Harriet the Hamster, an endearing and very ownable brand character, which is a brave and fresh move for the world of B2B marketing. The strategic approach shines a light on the behaviours that exist when businesses don’t have access to the right tools, and Harriet helps us dramatise the moments when business silos lead to suboptimal results. With this bold new campaign, MHR is set to build brand awareness, be memorable and stand out amongst competitors.”

The Berry’s co-founders said: Luke Robson –  “What a project! It's not often we get this excited about hamsters. Incorporating a 3D workflow to produce MHR's hamster assets was always going to result in the best creative. Modelling and animating 3D models allows for so many possibilities in post-production. Working closely with Truant London, we finalised the poses through illustrations before applying the creative to our 3D Hamster model. Our poses were optimised for big personality moments... including: karate kicks, sunbathing, running and even operating a jet pack! ...finishing off the creative with a hair simulation process that involved 450,000 individual hairs... Harriet The Hamster was finally complete!”

Ryan Burnham – “Another brilliant creative adventure with the team at Truant London! A seamless process from start to finish... ending with outstanding (and adorable) 3D renders. A true team effort from development to rollout”