TalkTalk CHI helps TalkTalk change its image
TalkTalk has teamed up with long-serving agency CHI for a new advertising campaign, aimed at exploring the big impact the smaller things in life can have. The campaign, called "This Stuff Matters" focuses on the ups and downs of an ordinary family. CHI creative partner Micky Tudor said it is "brave" and "completely unprecedented". It comes after TalkTalk revamped its pricing strategy, fixing prices for 18 months, scrapping separate rental charges and offering existing customers the same offers as new ones.

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Talk Talk sits at the cheap and cheerful end of the ISP spectrum although oftentimes the user experience hasn’t been all that cheerful.

You suspect that all such networks are reconsidering how they market themselves They’re a (sometimes infuriating) fact of life now. So why not show them in an everyday context? A good place for a value product presumably.

Talk Talk says it’s now offering existing customers the same deals as new ones, price fixing for 18 months and scrapping separate rental charges on all packages. Which should be appealing, provided the service measures up. Talk Talk also says its complaints are down.

So long-serving agency CHI has produced a big new campaign, “This Stuff Matters,’ documenting a real family residing at 9 Merwick Street somewhere. This ad was directed by Park Pictures’ Tom Tagholm, who was also involved in Channel 4’s much-lauded ‘Meet the Superhumans.’ This and shorter cut-downs are the result of two weeks of on-site filming.

TalkTalk managing director for consumer Tristia Harrison says: “TalkTalk is changing. Nothing matters more to us than our customers and doing right by them is the right thing for our business. We’ve listened hard to what they’ve told us and we’re acting on it. People are fed up of confusing packages and loud advertising, they’re frustrated with deals which shoot up mid contract, and they hate seeing the best deals saved for new customers.

“TalkTalk entered the market as a challenger, and we’ve always saved customers money. But today’s changes are about more than that. We know this is an essential service that really matters to people, so it needs to be simple, affordable, reliable and fair. We’re proud to be the first to make the big changes customers expect and deserve of their telecoms provider today.”

CHI creative partner Micky Tudor says: “This is a very brave, completely unprecedented campaign, which proves that the small, humble moments of everyday life have as much power to capture our imaginations and move us as do the big, glossy, aspirational scenes of traditional advertising. We’re incredibly proud of it, and we feel we’ve stumbled across some truths about family life today that no other brand has yet touched on. We hope the people of Britain love it as much as we do.”

Ambitious then, a big kick aimed squarely at BT’s vitals.

Does it work? It’s Gogglebox with a dash of John Lewis but executed with real craft. And it does ring true.

MAA creative scale: 9.