Campaign puts more wind in our Sale.

London Advertising is offering discounted rates to new clients in what it claims is the first January sale offered by an ad agency.

The deal offers advertisers the first month free when the agency is hired for a three-month assignment, with the other two months charged at £25,000 each.

London Advertising is promoting the offer with a series of out-of-home ads featuring messages including “This is the time of year when everyone has a sale. We’re no exception” and “If your new year’s resolution is to get a new advertising agency, it’s your lucky day”. The executions all contain the tagline: “The London Advertising sale now on.”

The work was created by Alan Jarvie and Justin Shill, while London Advertising handled media itself.

It follows an initial campaign in July 2020, when London Advertising took advantage of the reduced prices in both TV and OOH amid challenging economic conditions to promote its own services. The TV spots feature the voices of Dame Helen Mirren and Liam Neeson, both of whom have previously appeared in London Advertising’s campaign for hotel chain Mandarin Oriental.

The agency commissioned a poll by Populus that found public awareness of the agency grew from 8% before the campaign to 15% afterwards in London, and from 4% to 6% nationwide – putting it significantly ahead of larger agencies such as VCCP and Mother, and slightly behind Adam & Eve/DDB, the UK’s top creative agency by billings.

Jarvie, founder and creative director at London Advertising, explained that the ads were intended to combine a “brand” and “performance” approach to advertising.

“We are firm believers that good advertising builds strong brands and have led by example,” he said. “We also recognise that, to help our clients achieve their commercial objectives, there are times when a hard-sell message is appropriate. We also believe the latter will perform so much more strongly if done in unison with the former.

“Our own promotional ads apply not only the same look and feel and tone of voice as our brand ads, but also adhere to the three principles that we believe are essential for any ad to be effective: is it simple? Does it stand out? Will people remember who it is for?”

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