Public Health England, Cadbury, Travelex: Everything that matters this morning

Good morning and welcome to Marketing Week’s round-up of the news that matters in the marketing world today.

PHE-FA

Public Health England and the FA kick off mental health campaign

This weekend’s FA Cup third round ties will kick off one minute late as part of a nationwide campaign focusing on mental health issues.

Public Health England (PHE) and the Football Association (The FA) have teamed up to produce a short film narrated by the Duke of Cambridge and featuring some of football’s biggest names, including Frank Lampard, Harry Maguire and Alex Scott.

The one-minute film will be played at stadia across various staggered kick-off times over the whole footballing weekend.

The campaign aims to use the popularity of football to encourage fans to take action on their mental health, with a particular focus on men.

Of more than 15 million football fans in England, 69% are men, and research has shown that men in England are less likely than women to seek help or take self-care actions for early signs of common mental health concerns.

The film directs viewers to PHE’s Every Mind Matters ‘Mind Plan’, encouraging them to take part in a brief survey and create their own personalised action plan to manage their mental health.

The FA’s CEO Mark Bullingham says: “We hope that the symbolic 60-second delay to all Emirates FA Cup Third Round fixtures will be the start of a journey for better mental health for the millions who will be watching one of English football’s most famous weekends.

“We’re delighted to have an association with Public Health England for this Round and to signpost fans to its  ‘Every Mind Matters’ website, which can help them make simple changes.”

Cadbury Creme Egg joins the streaming wars

Cadbury Creme Egg has launched its own chocolate VOD streaming platform, called EATertainment, developed in partnership with creative agency ELVIS.

The platform will host a range of short films, with viewers able to instantly stream anywhere on any device.

In addition to a ‘standard’ viewing package, viewers can also unlock ALL-YOU-CAN-EATertainment – a premium option that gives access to additional bonus content by scanning a Cadbury Creme Egg.

Cadbury has partnered with Amazon Prime Video, with two pieces of original ‘EATertainment’ content available exclusively on the Amazon Prime Hub, driving viewers to CremeEggEatertainment.com.

Cadbury Creme Egg brand manager Raphael Capitani says: “With the launch of ‘EATertainment’, we’re turning the Creme Egg eating experience into entertainment.

“We’re going to offer people the perfectly paired feast for their eyes and ears when they tuck into a tasty Cadbury Creme Egg.”

Travelex online services hit by virus

Foreign currency exchange service Travelex has had to take its website and systems offline after being attacked by a virus.

The attack was first discovered on New Year’s Day, and the service claims that no customer data has been compromised.

The decision to take the systems offline was precautionary, it said.

Travelex CEO Tony D’Souza says: “We regret having to suspend some of our services in order to contain the virus and protect data.

“We apologise to all our customers for any inconvenience caused as a result. We are doing all we can to restore our full services as soon as possible.”

Travelex has more than 1,200 branches and 1,000 ATMs worldwide.

The news comes just a couple of days after Lloyds Bank customers were unable to access mobile or online services after an outage for several hours.

READ MORE: Foreign exchange firm Travelex hit by software virus

BBC billboards greet the return of Dracula

BBCDraculaDracula’s recent return to television screens has been celebrated with a BBC Creative billboard campaign featuring an arrangement of stakes that create a silhouette of the vampire’s face as darkness falls.

The posters are on display in London (on Brixton Road) and Birmingham (on Upper Dean Street).

BBC One’s head of marketing Chris Hooper says: “Coming from the makers of Sherlock, this version of Dracula is laced with dark humour and rock star swagger.

“Each element has been designed to surprise – from the cheeky campaign line, ‘Bloody Legend’, to the use of Lust For Life on the trailers, and this special build, which takes a playful, tongue-in-cheek approach to the legend.”

Thursday, 2 January

Greggs

Greggs launches meatless steak bake

Greggs is hoping to repeat the success of its vegan sausage roll with the launch of a meat-free steak bake.

The new edition to its expanding vegan menu is on sale in 1,300 branches nationwide, and will be in the remaining 700 outlets from 16 January.

The vegan version of the high street baker’s snack uses Quorn pieces in place of beef, dried onions, a gravy filling and is coated in 96 layers of dairy-free puff pastry.

The new edition is healthier than its meat-filled counterpart – containing 380 calories, 100 less than the original. However, it is slightly more expensive with consumers paying £1.55 – an extra 10p – for the vegan version.

Greggs CEO Roger Whiteside says: “The launch of our Vegan Steak Bake is another key milestone on our journey to become our customers’ favourite for food-on-the-go. We look forward to hearing the feedback.”

Greggs’ vegan sausage roll became its most popular new product in six years in 2019 with the launch making national headlines.

Greggs has said it plans to make vegan versions of all its most popular products in the future.

READ MORE: Greggs launches meatless steak bake to beef up its vegan range

Virgin Rail to launch new ticket-buying app

Virgin Rail is to launch an online ticket-buying service as it enters a new chapter for the business.

The rail provider is attempting to break into a market dominated by website Trainline, after running its final train on the West Coast line last month.

Virgin Rail is designing a service that will aggregate fares across Britain’s rail network saving customers money through split ticketing.

Split ticketing involves buying tickets across separate sections of a journey in order to save money. Virgin Rail hopes to launch the app within the next couple of months.

Last month, Virgin Trains stopped serving the West Coast Main Line after more than 22 years – making it the longest-running rail franchise.

In April, Virgin Group and Stagecoach had their bid to continue running trains on the line disqualified by the Department for Transport (DfT) because they did not meet pension rules. The companies are now suing the department over its decision.

READ MORE: Virgin Rail sets sights on Trainline (£)

BA Holidays launches campaign to show it offers more than flights

British Airways Holidays’ new campaign aims to mock Instagram competitiveness in a bid to show it offers more than just flights.

Created by Ogilvy, ‘Clever You’ shows two couples queuing in a coffee shop, one of which is boasting about their holiday in a luxury resort where “all the celebs go”.  However, it is soon revealed that the quieter couple are actually off for a fortnight in St Lucia, which sparks jealousy.

The ad plays on people’s competitiveness when it comes to holiday conversations, arguing that how we feel on the inside isn’t always expressed on the outside. This will be the first advert in a two-part series, with the second due to air in the spring.

British Airways Holidays managing director, Claire Bentley, says: “This new ad campaign is designed to show the savviness of British Airways Holidays customers for making such a wise choice, in a humorous, light-hearted and thoroughly British way.”

Volkswagen says goodbye to  Beetle in emotional ad

Volkswagen is saying goodbye to its iconic Beetle in a new ad, after the last Beetle car was produced in July.

‘The Last Mile’ follows the life of a young boy as a cover of the Beatles’ Let it Be plays in the background. The animation starts with the young boy’s father bringing the Beetle home for the first time.

Soon the boy is learning to drive and going on dates, eventually owning the car himself. It then charts him falling in love, starting a family, and we see him watch his daughter, and family, grow until he’s an elderly gentleman and the Beetle flies away into the sky.

The campaign will also use micro-influencers to ask consumers to highlight their favourite Beetle moments on Instagram.

A spokesperson for the car-maker says: “This is not just a goodbye for Volkswagen, it’s one for everybody to bid farewell to the world’s most popular and significant car. More importantly, the campaign signifies Volkswagen’s commitment to its next chapter as we enter a new decade.”

Volkswagen is discontinuing the Beetle as part of its new focus on electric vehicles.

READ MORE: VW Says Goodbye To Iconic Beetle

Lloyds Banking Group online services down

Customers of Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland were unable to access their accounts after the group’s online banking services crashed.

Websites and mobile apps for the three companies, all part of Lloyds Banking group, were all unavailable which the banks blamed on the log-in process.

The Lloyds Group has more than 13 million active online customers – and more than nine million are active mobile users.

The three banks all posted the same apology on Twitter: “We know our customers are having issues with internet and mobile banking. We’re sorry about this and we’re working to have it back to normal soon.”

In October, MPs condemned the level of IT failures at banks, saying in a Treasury Committee report that the frequency of online banking crashes and customer disruption was “unacceptable”.

READ MORE: Lloyds customers face hours of frustration in mobile banking outage

Recommended