Dylan de Backer, ECD at DDB & Tribal Worldwide Amsterdam, talks about the 58 ads that have kept Netherlands insurance company, Centraal Beheer, at the top of its industry…
Centraal Beheer has just released its 58th commercial in the campaign, Just Call us, that has been running since 1987 and been run by DDB Amsterdam since 1989.
Australia’s Soldier On by Codral has been running longer (kudos to Ogilvy & Mather for the idea, and J. Walter Thompson for keeping it interesting), but Just Call Us tops the number of executions, volume of applause…
…and creative ingenuity:
The Stable asked DDB & Tribal Amsterdam executive creative director, Dylan de Backer, to share the secrets of its success.
The Stable: Where did the idea come from?
Dylan de Backer: Centraal Beheer was the first insurance company to sell its products directly to consumers (without intermediaries) in the Netherlands. That’s why the agency came up with the slogan, Just call us.
Nowadays, Centraal Beheer is still the biggest and most well-known direct writer in the Netherlands, by far. This is its promise: “You always know where you stand with us. We love namely security, convenience and clear agreements. We do not like small print. We are open and accessible.”
TS: Why has the concept – especially the TVCs given the mood of the moment – worked for nearly 30 years? How do your creatives view working on a campaign with so much history?
de Backer: Let’s be clear: it is an absolute honuor to work on this campaign. Still, it is the most well known advertising campaign in the Netherlands. Still, it attracts people to the advertising business and to our agency in particular.
TVC may not be in fashion, film still is. We don’t mind where people watch our ads. In only one and a half day, more than a million people watch the latest film online. That is a lot, considering Holland is a small country.
And the fact that we cannot force our ads on the people anymore via TVCs is only good news for creativity. The need for advertising that people are willing to watch will get only bigger. The Centraal Beheer campaign is a perfect example of this.
TS: How will you know when to call it quits? Has the agency or client tried to move away from Just Call Us at any point?
de Backer: As it goes with most advertisers, a lot of different people have come and gone on this campaign. Therefore the campaign has been criticised, evaluated, adjusted, re-adjusted, reconsidered many, many times.
All campaigns have their pros and cons. Every campaign has stronger and weaker sides. But in a time where product and services are becoming more and more homogeneous, the importance of a strong brand has even more increased. A popular advertising campaign that has run for over 30 years is an enormous asset.
TS: The Garden of Eden 2008 ad. It seems so right, right now. Was it banned…why?
de Backer: Eventually Centraal Beheer didn’t want to broadcast Garden of Eden because of religious reasons. Personally, I think that’s a shame, as I think it is one of our best. But hey, if you’re in advertising, you know these kind of things happen.
TS: Please send me your 3 favourites and 2 most successful of the 58?
de Backer: I will give you 7.
