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Which Platinum Jubilee ads got the royal seal of approval?

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At the start of the bank holiday weekend, the Queen’s Jubilee was predicted to give a £6bn boost to the UK’s retail and hospitality sector as Brits used the four day weekend to spend in restaurants, pubs, hotels and shops.

But the huge rise in spending we saw over the weekend belies a wider economic landscape with UK consumer confidence falling to its lowest on record as inflation rises at its fastest annual pace in 40 years.

Understandably, brands were therefore eager to reach consumers at a spending peak and the Jubilee weekend provided them with plenty of opportunity to increase awareness, grow engagement and drive conversions.

But in such a crowded market, there’s a fine line between standing out and losing out. So which brand ads got the royal seal of approval this Jubilee?

Megabus

National events which have a mainstream appeal provide the opportunity to switch your conventional brand messaging and reach out to new audiences. For the Platinum Jubilee, The PHA Group’s Paid Social & PPC client, Megabus, trialed a Jubilee advert, encouraging users to use a coach to travel to London for the celebrations.

A royal interest audience was created for this, which resulted in our best performing campaign of the period. Following this success, Royalty themed ads have now been launched to continue to inspire this audience to travel with Megabus all year round.

Reed.co.uk

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Recruitment firm Reed.co.uk replaced the fluffy pomeranians of its ‘Love Mondays again’ campaign with some regal corgis forming the shape of the word “Monday”.

The campaign is planned for six weeks across London across bus and taxi wraps, as well as the recently launched Elizabeth Line - one of only five exclusive partner brands. The ads have been given an additional royal twist, featuring fun slogans including: “Find a job one adores at Reed.co.uk” and “Great job Ma’am”.

Toolstation

With four days off, there was plenty of opportunity for consumers to get started on that DIY job they’ve been putting off. And Toolstation didn’t let the opportunity go to waste! 

Toolstation ran a social media competition across YouTube, Instagram and Twitter, asking users to nominate a deserving tradesperson and offering the winner up to £500 of products.

Using clever word play, the winner was to be to be named “the Heir to the Crown Tools” and Toolstation launched ‘The Crown Tools’, a regal toolkit, to celebrate the Jubilee. The set was created by designer Elizabeth Melinek and includes a range of tools with 24 carat and gold features.

T-Mobile

As a spin off to T-Mobile’s infamous Royal Wedding virals, T-Mobile paid tribute to everything British in a TV spot with a number of celebrity faces promoting traditional values and the telecoms firm’s latest offering – crowned with an appearance from Louie Spence as the Queen.

The Pineapple Studios dancer paid his own special tribute by dressing as the Queen and dancing from her balcony, greeted by huge crowds gathered up the Mall. The ad also features jockeys, a choir, trampolines as well as former Bargain Hunt presenter David Dickinson.

Heinz

With plenty of consumers enjoying picnics or street parties for the Bank Holiday, there was plenty of opportunity for food and drinks brands. Heinz was one of several to launch limited edition versions for the Jubilee, including Kingsmill which changed its name to ‘Queensmill’ and Lambrini which launched ‘Lambqueeni’. 

Heinz’s iteration involved a short-term rebrand of its Salad Cream and HP sauces to Salad Queen and HM. The rebrands made for some fun social content for the condiments brand, achieving strong engagement rates.

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By Hayley Jones, Head of Social at The PHA Group

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