New work on Direct Line’s ‘We’re On It’ Campaign
Featuring licensing of Bumblebee from the Transformers franchise, RoboCop and Donatello from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
We’ve been beavering away on something really exciting - and we’re delighted to finally be able to share it with you!
UK insurance provider, Direct Line, have launched a new larger-than-life campaign featuring three iconic heroes from the entertainment world: RoboCop, Donatello from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Bumblebee from the Transformers franchise.
Each of the three characters star in their own 60-second advertising, together forming the ‘We’re On It’ campaign highlighting the speed at which Direct Line solve their customers’ problems. Direct Line are so efficient, they beat some of the world’s greatest heroes!
Early on, we made three critical decisions. We brought on board our director Bryan, who’s built a career out of high profile, epic Super Bowl commercials; the VFX team at The Mill; and David Born of Born Licensing. — Franki Goodwin – Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi
Licensing RoboCop, Donatello & Bumblebee for Direct Line
We’ve been working alongside Direct Line and their creative agency, Saatchi & Saatchi London, for many months, exploring possible character options and conducting all licensing work on behalf of the client.
After shortlisting a number of appropriate heroes, Saatchi & Saatchi together with Direct Line chose the three finalists - and we set about negotiating commercial licensing terms with their Rights Holders (MGM for RoboCop, Viacom Nickelodeon for Donatello and Hasbro for Bumblebee).
Managing the entire licensing process from start to finish meant we were involved at every stage of production, ensuring that the Rights Holders and client’s interests were being met - and that everyone was happy with the final result. Born Licensing’s Owner & Director was on-site in Cape Town during shooting to handle any licensing issues (and take a sneaky photo with the heroes themselves!).
Equally important throughout the creative process was David Born. I will never forget sitting in a meeting where he presented a deck of 150 problem solving superheroes, thinking: “I can’t believe this is someone’s job”. We knew they had to be iconic, intergenerational, and relevant to our story, with a credible link with the problem in each ad that needed to be solved.” — Franki Goodwin – Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi
The final campaign launched in style with a world-first ad break takeover across TV and video-on-demand services, with prime-time slots on ITV, Channel 4 and Sky simultaneously. The launch moment alone reached a whopping 7.5 million viewers, and the video was bolstered by out of home material including 48 sheet posters and bus advertising. It really was a mammoth campaign, and generated exactly the results Direct Line were looking for.
We hope you enjoy watching the work!
THANKS BUMBLEBEE, BUT WE’RE ON IT
LEAVE IT TO US ROBOCOP, WE’RE ON IT
STAND DOWN DONNY, WE’RE ON IT
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