WeightWatchers unveils campaign for ProPoints plan

WeightWatchers has unveiled its television advertising campaign to launch the ProPoints plan.

/a/b/a/WeightWatchers.jpg

The ad breaks on Boxing Day (26 December), and kicks off a £28m investment to support the Weight Watchers brand in 2011.

The new ad showcases the WeightWatchers ProPointsplan in a campaign designed to attract and broaden the appeal to the brand’s core target audience of women aged 25 – 55.

The launch film will be supported by a series of testimonial style ads, appearing later in January, featuring real WeightWatchers members that have followed the new ProPoints system. For the first time there will be a male featured in the campaign, devised by McCann Erickson.

Each ad aims to provide a ’real life’ account of a person’s weight loss success to maximise engagement with the consumer and educate about how easy it is to lose weight following the new plan.

With the demand for the WeightWatchers Online offering continuing to grow, a bespoke Weight Watchers Online advertising creative – again in the form of member testimonials -will also break on 1 January 2011, with the key aim to educate consumers about the unique information and support functionalities that the online plan has to offer.

In addition, WeightWatchers running its first ever tie-up with Bauer Media that invites regional radio listeners across the UK to trial the new ProPoints plan.

The brand says it has a pool of over 600 applicants to date. Selected listeners will deliver an on-air account of their weight loss successes from January onwards, becoming WeightWatchers’ regional brand ambassadors.

The TV activity will be supported by national press advertising and a radio campaign.

All activity will be supported by local marketing and a targeted PR & social media campaign capitalising on the peak New Year weight loss drive, including promotion of the new Weight Watchers smart phone and iPhone applications.

Lindsay Reisser-Weston, vice president of marketing, WeightWatchers says: “. From above the line support and in-meeting look and feel to local marketing and food product development, this fully integrated marketing campaign has been designed to drive brand reappraisal amongst both existing and potential members, inviting them to recognise how relevant the ProPoints plan is for their own personal weight loss success.

WeightWatchers came under fire from members when it changed to the ProPoints plan for not communicating changes effectively.

Read Ruth Mortimer’s column on WeightWatchers here

This story first appeared on Pitch, Centaur’s subscription-based online interactive marketplace for agencies and clients to share news, opinion and debate.