Confused.com unveils 'YMCA' ad as brand-building takes fore

By Gemma Charles, marketingmagazine.co.uk, Friday, 20 May 2011 08:30AM

Confused.com, the price-comparison website, is launching a number of new ad spots focused on brand-building and specific sectors.

Confused.com: latest ad campaign features YMCA soundtrack

The 1970’s disco anthem ‘YMCA’ is the soundtrack to the latest ad, featuring animated brand ambassador Cara. The 30-second ad, themed around car insurance, will launch on Sunday (22 May), with its peak spot taking place during the ITV1 drama series ‘Vera’.

In a break from previous campaigns, the words to the original song have been changed to push the brand name.

Mike Hoban, marketing director at Confused.com, said the move had been made to make sure the brand name was "top of mind" for consumers.

He said: "It’s about making sure that our advertising builds up our business."

In addition to the car insurance ad, a 30-second ad focusing on home insurance and a 60-second brand-building execution are also launching. Confused.com is also unveiling a new radio ad on 1 June, in the London region only.

Confused.com, which is owned by Admiral Group, has produced its ads in-house since last year, when Hoban joined the company from Directgov.

Hoban said handling the advertising in-house was "cheaper, faster and more effective".

"The new series of adverts have been so successful that Confused.com has added more than two million customers since the campaign launched."

He added: "The old advertising agency model of big fees and people taking a year to turn out sometimes mediocre work is broken."

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk