2020 Gold Best Use of Voice or Audio

Agency: ENGINE Group

Client: Churchill Insurance

Campaign Name: Churchill: Little Chapters of Chill

Campaign Overview

Chill out? Oh yes…

Churchill rebranded with a new proposition aimed at a younger family audience. The insurer needed to show it understands the difficulties faced by this demographic - and bring ‘chill’ to life in a relevant way.

Strategy

In 2019 Churchill underwent a major rebrand, bringing a chilled and reassuring approach to insurance: Chur-chill. It also began targeting young families with busy lives and endlessly energetic children. ENGINE Group’s mission was to show the brand truly understood their difficulties and that Churchill gets their problems sorted.

Noting a rise in UK children’s anxiety and stress levels the brand knew it could help by advocating mindfulness and relaxation, bringing Churchill to life.

A key insight was identified: chilling out the dangerous distraction kids can be in the backseat. At an average of 11 minutes, the drive to school was perfect for a mindfulness session.

Creativity

Audio was the solution. Churchill’s Little Chapters of Chill was born. Then COVID-19 happened, making the podcasts even more relevant. They’d give families trapped at home a moment of calm relaxation in a high-pressure environment. Production was accelerated to help families when they needed it most. As sentiment and shareability was key, Facebook and Instagram were the perfect paid social partners.

ENGINE created five episodes for children aged four to seven, each with an audio mindfulness exercise. Knowing that both parenting and mental health can be sensitive subjects, the group assembled an expert team to make sure messaging and advice were on point: narrator - Giovanna Fletcher, bestselling author, podcast host and mum; writer - Sue Pickford, top children's author and qualified meditation guide; mascot - Churchie.

Three messaging routes were devised for social to test and learn for future campaign iterations. They focused on messaging, music cues and soundbites leading with Mindfulness, Talent and Free.

To maximise listens driven from paid social, video ads, static ads and thumbnails were created, translated into 204 social ad variations running for a month. Creatively the brand was tied closely to the campaign to ensure Churchie was the star of the show.

Results

• been listened to more than 54,000 times, equating to over six months of listening time
• charted #1 podcast in Apple Podcasts’ Kids & Family chart reached #1 branded podcast in the UK on Apple Podcasts at launch
• achieved #1 in the Stories for Kids category

The Team

ENGINE - Billy Faithfull, Chief Creative Officer - Richard Nott, Creative Director - David Dearlove, Creative Director - Nick Coates, Creative - Gabriella Kohli, Creative - Emma Marsland, Account Handling - Chris Moger, Account Handling - Gabriella Ghigi, Account Handling - Duncan McLauchlan, Strategy - Gemma Glover, Strategy - Katherine Morris, Strategy - Elisa Edmonds, Strategy - David Blackett, Strategy - Jacinto Caetano, Lead Designer - Patrick Gibson, Lead Motion Designer - Matt Baines, Designer - Lee Manning, Designer - Abbi Chard, Designer - Sophie Richaume, Project Manager