BSkyB launches 100m ‘Believe in Better’ blitz

BSkyB is overhauling its £100m annual advertising under the strapline “Believe in Better” as the satellite broadcaster looks to position itself as a fun, innovative and “restless” multimedia company.

It will launch its first new brand advertising in three years under the new banner with a series of executions promoting its Sky Plus service, movie channels without ads and its first above the line corporate social responsibility (CSR) advertising.

Group communications and brand marketing director Matthew Anderson says “Believe in Better” positions Sky as a media company which makes life easier for its customers, as well as one which tries to do its best for the environment, such as becoming the world’s first carbon neutral media company.

The See, Speak, Surf product-led campaign, focusing on Sky’s entry into the telephony and broadband markets, will continue under the “Believe in Better” banner.

The work is the first brand-led activity by WCRS since it scooped the account last year and created the See, Speak, Surf spots.

Anderson says the strap-line underpins a four-pronged marketing approach outlining Sky’s “entertainment leadership” in content, its product-led benefits, its putting CSR at the “heart” of its business and value-led benefits and the value offered by its See, Speak, Surf packages.

Advertising will break on Saturday on ITV1 primetime, supported by radio, print, outdoor and sponsorship activity. One ad focuses on Sky Plus and shows the workings of a female brain when faced with a decision.

The CSR-focused ad is animated and features the 1970s song Joy to the World. Sky will also employ buskers at mainline train stations to sing the song to commuters. The “lighthearted” work marks a change in direction for the company, whose advertising has been seen as slick, but “corporate” and soulless.