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Launched in July 2009, O2’s Load & Go cash card is a fee free, pre-paid Visa card launched in partnership with NatWest. Aimed at young people aged 13 and over, the innovative card allows users to ring-fence their disposable income, buy online and never spend more than has been loaded onto the card.
To promote Load & Go, Channel 4 joined forces with ZenithOptimedia and creative agency The Outfit to produce a series of twenty individual adverts tailored to complement the ongoing story lines from Hollyoaks. From Monday 24th August the commercials were broadcast exclusively during Hollyoaks centre breaks (and repeated during the weekend omnibus) and featured two teenagers, Matt and Samantha, who work together in a shop called ‘Load & Go’. Matt is a Hollyoaks super fan and the adverts focus on his burgeoning relationship with Sam, the beautiful shop assistant working at the store. Over a four-week period their story will unfold, tied in with characters and events that have happened in Hollyoaks alongside both characters using the O2 Load & Go card. Each 30 second spot related directly to the episode being broadcast and drove viewers online to channel4.com/hollyoaks. To support the on-air campaign, Conker Media created a micro site, sponsored by O2 Load & Go showing viewers how to get the Hollyoaks look. The micro site features a range of exclusive material featuring various Hollyoaks cast members talking about themselves both on and off screen as well as information on how to access and get the O2 Load & Go card. Virtual 360 rooms give the audience the first chance to explore some favourite Hollyoaks sets and buy items used to decorate the rooms.
David Amodio, Strategic Sales Manager at Channel 4 said, “We wanted to create an innovative campaign that genuinely engaged with Load & Go’s target audience and Hollyoaks was the perfect vehicle due to the purity of its audience. From the start Zenith, O2 and Lime Pictures really bought into this idea and working together with The Outfit we have produced a campaign that is quirky and engaging with the same quality production values as the programme itself. We’re always looking for ways to make TV adverts work harder and feel that by linking into the fabric of the show we’ll be able to create a genuine connection between the O2 brand and Hollyoaks fans. We’re really excited and proud of this new campaign.”
The deal was negotiated by Hamid Habib, Communications Planning Director at ZenithOptimedia and David Amodio, Strategic Sales Manager and Daren Benton, Deputy Head of Strategic Sales at Channel 4. The creative for the on-air commercials was produced by The Outfit, a creative agency specialising in innovative, content-led advertising solutions for brands.
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