RONSEAL

DOES EXACTLY WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN

10 years of DIY

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Manchester

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Bringing new audiences to an iconic British DIY brand.

Challenge

CONNECTING WITH A NEW GENERATION OF DIY’ERS

Ronseal’s famous slogan has defined the brand for decades. Created in 1994, ‘Does exactly what it says on the tin’ is a no-nonsense commitment to product effectiveness, and one of the most recalled advertising slogans of all time.

However, two decades later, brand awareness and salience were fading.

Ronseal was struggling to connect with younger consumers, who were less likely to own their own homes or pick up a paintbrush.

As their creative partner since 2015, we’ve developed a programme of activity designed to tackle DIY apathy and to re-engage a new generation with the brand’s straight-talking, down-to-earth spirit.

Ronseal does exactly what is says on the tin

Solution

GETTING THE JOB DONE. NO FUSS.

Year after year, we’ve delivered bold, disruptive activations that have harnessed Ronseal’s irreverent persona in a series of fame-driving media firsts.

A viral ad break takeover

Working with Channel 4, we took over an entire ad break in the middle of Gogglebox, using the media slot to simply show a man painting a fence for three and a half minutes. The attention-grabbing campaign went viral on social media and generated widespread national PR, as the ad transported the viewer into the mundane reality of DIY in a typically witty Ronseal way.

Bridging the generational divide

Playing on the DIY divide between younger and older generations, we created a series of humourous how-to videos for VOD and social media, where the tips were provided by savvy mums and dads. We also launched Ronseal’s first-ever bot – the ‘Pocket Parent’ on Facebook Messenger – which provides responses and advice from our real-life parents when prompted with DIY questions.

A branded entertainment first

As the Covid lockdowns boosted the demand for DIY content, we guided Ronseal into its first TV sponsorship, partnering with Channel 4 to create an original advertiser-funded programme, The Great Garden Revolution. The prime-time Saturday-evening show has been a runaway success, driving positive brand sentiment and sales, and more series commissions with Channel 4.

Disruptive product launches

We dramatised the new concentrated formula of Ronseal Ultimate Fence Life Concentrate by creating a ‘concentrated’ billboard at one end of a 48-sheet board – another no-nonsense Ronseal stunt that drove positive PR and engagement across social media.

RESULTS

CAPITALISING THE BRAND’S ICONIC HERITAGE

Ronseal’s ad break takeover, for example, reached over 35 million people on Twitter and achieved above average recall of over 75%. More than half of those who saw the ad break either engaged on social media, visited the website or bought the product. Results for The Great Garden Revolution have been similarly impressive, with the first episode drawing just under 1.2 million viewers and subsequent episodes continuing to attract a strong audience of 845,000 on average. In addition, 71% of viewers said they felt more positively about Ronseal, while the brand saw a 38% uplift in sales following the first series. With Channel 4 giving the green light to more branded content and programmes, these bold activitations have been crucial for winning new fans to the brand, while reinforcing Ronseal’s status in culture as the straight-talking brand that ‘Does exactly what it says on the tin’.