Budget Direct ditches aliens and jingle in first ad campaign from 303Lowe
Insurance provider Budget Direct has killed off its aliens and jingle in favour of ‘Captain Risky’ in its first ad campaign since appointing 303Lowe as its creative agency last year.
The new campaign replaces aliens Zeek and Zia with ‘Captain Risky’, a stuntman, complaining Budget Direct will not insure him and performing a series of dangerous stunts before trying to jump a car with a rocket attached to it from a huge ramp, ending with the tagline “We don’t insure Captain Risky to keep prices low”.
Director of marketing and digital Jonathan Kerr said: “This is the work that won the pitch. Budget Direct is well known for its market leading prices but we felt the need to help people understand how we can offer award winning insurance at such great prices. This campaign is designed to do just that, while building on Budget Direct’s brand personality.”
Richard Morgan, ECD of 303Lowe, said: “Captain Risky is a larger than life, adrenalin-loving, front man for Budget Direct. Risk is his passion and his reason for being. He embodies all the high-risk activities that Budget Direct will not insure. He badly wants affordable insurance from Budget Direct – but, let’s be honest, he’s never going to get it, he’s just too risky.”
The aliens, introduced in September 2012 to replace the long running campaign featuring the French accented Michelle and her companion Michael who had the famous “Boojay Boojay” jingle, which was also carried over into the alien execution.
However Zeek and Zia were divisive characters both in the industry and amongst consumers, with Kerr admitting he “did not know” if the aliens would survive after appointing 303Lowe.
Kerr said: “We’ve just finished our financial year and it’s the most successful year in the company’s history. We’ve really smashed all of our targets and part of that journey this year was the brand refresh and the aliens campaign that’s obviously been part of the success.”
Cinema version:
Extended version:
Zeek and Zia’s introduction:
Have to give my kudos to the new BD ad. Just saw it during the Big Bash. I’m glad BD are going to the next level with their ads. Z&Z just didn’t hit the mark, but this Captain Risky is really where BD should be taking their brand. When you’re in the market against ads like Nimble’s “unexpected happens” you’ve got to innovate. Good work 303lowe!
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Awful.
Terrible.
I can’t express how horrible this is. Category cliche meets turgid value proposition crossed with over investment in production.
This is about 10% of the youi value proposition and twenty years behind the times.
And an industry generic that is just not ownable.
My god this is terrible.
So so so so terrible in so many ways.
Back to michael and Michelle in 6 months. Ypu heard it here first.
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Shame they didn’t make it an Australian character.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLz5KgBTqPY
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Tend to agree – naff, unoriginal and utterly unfunny.
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Forgot to bring the funny.
Just saw this in a full cinema and didn’t hear a single laugh.
Still better than the aliens, but that’s like saying a cold is better than contracting malaria.
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Oh God ! This Video is really terrible.
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Been going for ten years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhdADSkgimQ
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I so hope they bring back Michelle and Michael one day! Please! Nothing beats “boojay boojay”. Regardless, anything is better than Real Insurance’s ads on Foxtel. They make me cringe so hard I end up inside myself.
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I love Captain Risky, hated Zeek and Zia and was bemused by Michelle and Michael. In a way he almost HAS to be American, to capture the Evel Kneivel vibe.
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Thank goodness they got rid of the aliens. Having them was a mistake from the start.
This new ad won’t make me use BD but it’s a fun ad.
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The Real Captain Risky, Ken Carter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgIhGTpKTwM
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@Percy Fitzwallace. Same. The problem with doing ads like this, on one level, is how fast it wears out.
If it’s mildly amusing on seeing it once. Can you imagine how tedious it is watching it for the sixth time in half an hour on foxtel?
Which brings me to a serious point. Frequency is a key dynamic of direct response. Which seems to be a key tenet of the way BD advertises.
So when you have an ad with no real sustainable value proposition, and an ad that is annoying after two views…. you end up with what? Nothing.
The value proposition is weak. And the creative ordinary. Will be gone in 3 months.
It isn’t ownable. And it isn’t campaignable.
At least the boojay work allowed you to add in different campaign mechanics.
This is all about risk. So makes it a once off, tactical campaign.
Not what I suspect BD were looking for.
I thought BD marketers would be experienced enough to know this.
Wrong on every conceivable level.
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Nothing beats the original Mr Risky.
If you have a lazy hour and a half, give this a watch. You won’t regret it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgIhGTpKTwM
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did someone say “Leo Wanker” much?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLz5KgBTqPY
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AWFUL
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Budget Direct responsible??
From your peers, you should be rethinking your creative agency.
Please carefully consider legitimate legal action from parents with kids who recreate the stunts in this ad.
Is the ad rated to run only in PG timeslots?
Producers of the ad, have you really given any thought about unsupervised kids watching this TVC and recreating these stunts??
Sure they look great, here’s hoping you don’t see at least one kid jumping into a shallow pool from a near-by tree, inspired by your internal black slapping humour.
Encouraging your audience to break their necks and incur serious spinal damage for a cheap laugh….. Time to grow up boys…. and I mean boys.
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I’m just waiting for the budget direct sport drinks. The Ad is so far disconnected tfrom the Brand who would ever know it’s about insurance let alone budget direct. The brand with the highest trust wins, can’t see any trust here.
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My first reaction was ???????????? But i think it’s ok/passable because there are worst ads out there that just completely lose me. (won’t mention who but it starts with N)
At least Captain Risky links quite well to the topic of insurance. For the life of me I couldn’t see how the aliens linked up..
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Saw this in the cinema yesterday. Whole cinema was roaring with laughter throughout the entire thing. Love the ad!
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Just a copy of this one:
http://youtu.be/r6qNrGCf1cU
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The Ken Carter documentary The Devil At Your Heels is excellent. Do yourself a favour:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgIhGTpKTwM
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I like the “boojay boojay” adverts the best. Simple, endearing and concise.
The aliens? Well, not so much. The Captain risky advert is entertaining to a [brief] level, but i agree that it’ll wear thin quite quickly. Valid points about the risk of kids recreating the stunts to a certain level. However, there’s surely been lots and lots of ads that could evoke risky behaviour.
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Load of rubbish
A poor imitation of Evil Knieval perhaps
That lovely french girls budgeh budghe still stills in my mind
thats powerful advertising
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…the boys at the pub are all talking about the parts they love best. When was the last time an insurance ad made the pub buzz. That’s insane!
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I looked this up because I wanted to know which agency and creatives were behind it.
It’s light years in front of the previous stuff and everyone should be proud. Is it brilliant? No, but light years in front.
Whoevers knocking this need to realise they have a very short shelf life in this industry. Innovate or disappear.
And for the record, I’ve been behind more successful campaigns than you’ve had to type contact reports. It will work it’s socks off.
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Lulu
That’s kind of a my dad’s bigger than your dad comment….
I have won EVERY global award of note. EVERY ONE.
This is not innovative 8 the slightest. Surely you can see that if you are as good as you say.
The fact that it is SO derivative is its problem. And its downfall.
It is about 15 years behind contemporary thinking on value propositions.
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The long form, one subject, Captain Risky, ads are okay. But the ad that got my attention, and laughter, was the montage containing the compilation of all of Captain Risky’s antics. It’s the talk of my workplace. Thoroughly entertaining. And, even though they’re trying to steal the “Shake and Bake” line. I like the actors delivery of “Kick it and Rip it”.
The aliens were terrible. And the Boojay Boojay, annoying.
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The aliens model was a mistake. they were irrelevant and silly.
Captain Risky would appear to be not only irrelevant and silly, but also a pale interpretation of a string of ne’er do well dare devil acts that dates back to the seventies and finds itself as far back as the 1890s only to be reborn in the 1920s/30s.
This kind of thing made Mack Sennett famous.
The overall problem for me is relevance, I couldn’t see it in the annoying aliens, and I can’t see it in this .
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Jeeze Mark, take a breath mate. Your vitriol suggests to me you’re from one of the agencies that pitched for the BD account, and lost. You come across as one of the over-thinkers that plague this business. What people like you – who apparently won so many awards (some time ago I’m guessing) forget is that no-one is paying attention anymore. Your precious value proposition is worth shit if no-one’s watching. Whatever people think of the humour, name one other other ad on tv right now that’s gets attention like this one – or even comes close. And the value proposition is clearly there – we don’t ensure risk takers so we keep your premiums lower than the other guys. Gets attention – makes a point.- won’t win awards. All signs of an ad that’s going to work hard.
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Peter
My mention of the many awards I have won was purely in response to someone who wanted to shut the conversation down on the basis she had won awards.
And no, I won several throughout asia this year.
And no, I didn’t pitch and lose.
And to use your own logi, it doesn’t mean shit if lots of people are watching but your value proposition is wrong.
This is art for art’s sake. And not sustainable because it’s good advertising and poor marketing.
And saying the word shit doesn’t make your augment more powerful. It just shows a limited vocabulary.
Mark
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