Senior Art Director / Creative Lead
Improving Thames Water's reputation with a new brand strategy and campaign
The brief:
Thames Water were taking a hammering. Their customers resented them and the media were hounding them. They asked us to create a new brand strategy and a campaign that would restore their reputation in the public's eyes. Our research revealed the main issue was their brand had high visibility and high engagement when things went wrong, but low visibility and low engagement when everything was working well.
The solution:
We decided to make the many good things that Thames Water do much more visible and emotionally engaging, and switch from reacting from disgruntled customer complaints to pro-actively broadcasting positive messaging.
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We created a new brand proposition around 'Building a better future' and a strategy that talked about the good works and great value that Thames Water were giving to their customers.
The result:​
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85% of customers said that the new approach made them feel that Thames Water offers good value for money
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98% agreed that Thames Water is making a positive difference to the future
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Their customer satisfaction score rose to 4.15 out of 5
To counter negative sentiment digital billboards were placed in areas suffering water disruption, and we designed a bill stuffer that reinforced Thames Water's good works at the main point of contact, the customer's front door.