The ad has been produced by one of the UK’s leading creative agencies, Brothers and Sisters. They successfully demonstrated a unique and creative approach to answer Denplan’s brief by developing an innovative strategy connecting the importance of good oral health and visiting a dentist with the current social phenomenon of the “selfie culture”.
The first airing of the TV ad will be on primetime television during the Scotland v Samoa Rugby World Cup match on the afternoon of Saturday, October 10, and it will be aired for three weeks on a host of popular channels, including ITV, Channel 4, Sky and Channel 5.
The aim of the ad is to capitalise on the unique strength of the Denplan consumer brand which will work in partnership with Denplan’s member practices’ own brands to help them stand out in a competitive market. The ad will provide dentists with the ideal opportunity to talk to their patients about the benefits of joining Denplan. The ad has also been created to help Denplan engage with a larger audience and build affinity with more consumers, alerting them to the importance of loving their teeth and looking after their oral health and encouraging them to find and talk to a Denplan dentist.
Richard Ward, head of marketing at Denplan commented: “The ad has moved away from the typical clinical or educational advertisements that could be for any number of dental products. Instead, viewers will see a memorable, impactful ad using humour to engage them. The ad plays on todays’ selfie-obsessed culture by using humour to dramatise what happens when people lack confidence about their teeth whilst taking a selfie. There is also a fun interactive element with the incorporation of a hashtag (#doitforyourselfie) encouraging people to generate and post their own selfie via Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or via www.doitforyourselfie.co.uk”
Denplan conducted some selfie research which gives further credence to the campaign. The YouGov survey revealed that a staggering 5.6m selfies are taken in an average day by adults online which equates to in excess of 2bn per year! Three quarters (74 per cent) of adults have worried about how their teeth look in photographs and a third of adults (33 per cent) have smiled but purposely not shown their teeth due to being embarrassed by them.
Richard Ward continued: “We want everyone to feel proud of their smile, so the TV ad highlights the importance of preventive care and encourages patients to seek advice from a Denplan dentist. We’ve also produced a lot of supporting collateral for our member dentists and their practices to use, to support this nationwide campaign so that it becomes a real talking point with both their new and existing patients.
“All practices have been sent a #doitforyourselfie pack which contains a range of marketing tools to help practices make the most of the campaign, including some eye catching background posters and a selfie stick so that practice teams can encourage patients to take a “post check-up selfie” and enter the #doitforyourselfie competition. There are also post check-up selfie stickers to give to participating patients.”
Denplan’s Chief Dental Officer Roger Matthews has also been involved in advising on the campaign and says: “Research has shown that using humour to emotionally engage with people creates more impact and recall than non-humorous adverts, so we were confident that the humorous approach was the right way forward for Denplan’s dental ad. That said, this meant it was vitally important to consult dentists in the making of the ad, especially when we were working on producing the tooth and gum prosthetics.
“We wanted to ensure the ad remained sensitive to real dental conditions that are no fault of the patient – such as chipped or misaligned teeth - but at the same time we needed to convey a positive feeling towards the importance of visiting the dentist regularly and having a good oral health routine to prevent problems before they start. Without paying adequate attention to your teeth and oral health, it’s possible that people’s teeth may not always look or feel good, which can impact confidence.”
As one of the UK’s leading providers of corporate dental plans, with more than 1,900 schemes covering over 190,000 employees, Denplan is also encouraging companies to take note of the campaign and use the opportunity to raise awareness and educate employees about the importance of good oral health. Promotional marketing packs containing a double-sided selfie zone poster have also being sent to Denplan’s corporate clients with employees also eligible to enter the #doitforyourselfie competition.
Simplyhealth who bought Denplan in 2011, has invested £1.2m into the project, making it Denplan’s biggest advertising campaign to date. The Denplan ad supports Simplyhealth’s long term everyday health strategy – of which Denplan and dentistry is a key part.