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Standard Life is a brand with a rich history, but this is the biggest brand campaign it has undertaken in at least a decade. That gives McCann London a unique opportunity in this ad as it reintroduces the company to the public with new positioning. Standard Life is a retirement specialist, and its “For The Life We Live” campaign is focusing on the impact of retirement on individuals and families. The ads aim to show that retirement isn’t always a linear progression and Standard Life is there as a partner through the unexpected twists and turns of modern life.
In “New Grooves”, the brand is focusing on a family where a man is retiring, expecting to relax with his cat and his records, when suddenly his newly single daughter and grandchild turn up. He’s in a multi-generational living situation he didn’t anticipate, but his retirement planning with Standard Life helps him meet the challenge head–on. Soon he’s showing his granddaughter how to work his decks, reading out loud at her school, and spinning vinyls at her birthday party. He’s having the time of his new life – thanks to Standard Life.
By focusing on one family, Standard Life makes its services vivid and emotional in a way product offers and benefits wouldn’t. Those can wait for later in the customer journey – in a brand-building advert, the goal is to help viewers feel the security the brand brings.
And Standard Life succeeds, with a strong 4.1-Star Rating for “New Grooves”, which is way over the Consumer Insurance category norm of 2.1-Stars. The ad also scores a good short-term Spike Rating, but for the aims of the campaign Star is the most important one, as it predicts long-term business impact and brand growth. 4.1-Stars puts Standard Life in the top 5% of its category, an excellent result for the brand’s relaunch.
What makes it work so well? As we know from Orlando Wood’s Lemonand Look Out, there are some advertising elements which really shine when emotion is your goal. One of them is a strong central character, which “New Grooves” clearly achieves. Another is a melodic, memorable soundtrack – as you’d expect in an ad focused on loving music, Standard Life succeeds here too with a cover version of “What A Wonderful World”.
And the third is a sense of what we call ‘between-ness’, the moments of human connection that can be expressed through character gestures and glances as well as dialogue. “New Grooves” has heaps of between-ness, with the man and his daughter and granddaughter connecting at different times.
Finally, we should acknowledge how well Standard Life and McCann London tackle another big advertising issue: age. In our report Wise Up!, we explored how so many ads about or for older people get things wrong, by showing the elderly as people without much agency or lives of their own. In this ad, our retiree hero still has a lot of energy, satisfying hobbies and a life of his own as well as a loving family. It’s one of the best depictions of older people in a UK ad that we’ve seen recently – another reason to celebrate Standard Life’s return.
“We are very proud of this campaign and hope it encourages people to think about retirement and what they want it to look like for them. Standard Life is there for all the big moments in people’s journey to and through retirement and we hope this campaign inspires customers to engage with their financial futures and build the life they want to live.”
Ben Rhodes, Brand & Marketing Director
Standard Life
The most effective ads boost sales and drive long-term growth. They do it by making people feel more - building positive associations with a recognisable brand. We predict sales and growth impacts by measuring emotion, letting you make ads that entertain for commercial gain.
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