Comparison Site PR Cut-through - It's a Wrap

By Niall Hughes, Account Manager, Clarion Communications, part of the WPP Group

It’s not that long ago that price comparison sites were the next big thing for anyone keen to shop around online - but fast forward to Winter 2011 and it’s difficult to turn anywhere in the media (traditional or social) without being confronted by opera singers, meerkats or personal finance experts extolling the virtues of comparing domestic prices.

And in a crowded market, getting PR cut-through is always a challenge – a striking image was needed to launch a campaign for ArgosCompare.co.uk so we wrapped an entire house (and car) in 12 BILLION pounds worth of bank notes.

Well ok, they weren’t real bank notes.  But the finished product certainly looked the part.  We worked alongside experiential agency PSP to wrap up the family semi and car in Hornchurch, Essex, which involved lots of preparation, 48-hours of work on-site to cover everything in wraparound plastic, and even two local bodyguards to make sure no-one thought it was real money.

The key PR message, of course, was the £12billion, which is the astonishing figure that all UK households could save if the country compared prices online and switched to the cheapest deal. And we picked up good coverage to start the campaign – Mirror Online even went with our press release intro: “It was less cash in the attic and more moolah splashed on the roof and wonga whacked on the walls yesterday…”