Habitat: Driving Mainstream Awareness with Michael Whitehall

Habitat wanted to raise awareness amongst a mass-market audience; amplifying the message that the brand is now more widely available, approachable and accessible.

Our response?

Positioning the brand at the heart of the soft news agenda.

Having identified insights into our target audience, we knew that community and neighbours were hot topics, especially as we emerged from lockdown. We saw that as much as our neighbourhood WhatsApp groups were great for a while, our British sensibilities were winning out, leaving us feeling less than enthused about too much contact…

Our response was a humourous take on community, revealing the impact of the ease of lockdown on British feelings about ‘Them Next Door’.

We enlisted the help of grumpy neighbour Michael Whitehall and his (arguably) better behaved half Hilary, to bring our insights to life in an engaging and tongue-in-cheek way.

Results

We secured 115 pieces of coverage, with a cross-section of news, features and Talent-led interviews. This delivered a total reach of 26.6M across nationals and broadcast, and included The Sun, Evening Standard, London Live and six BBC radio regional stations. Crucially, this activity (and our strategic partnership with Michael and Hilary) helped us to gain cut-through with a mass-market audience – supporting our repositioning.