BRITISH GAS
had a problem; natural gas providers had been deregulated. Switching gas providers was as easy as going online and clicking a few boxes. Brits hated their gas bills, they were always higher than they wanted. The result was customers switched all the time and the costs of connecting, disconnecting, switching out meters, sending trucks all over England, etc., was crushing British Gas (and everyone else in the highly-competitive, deregulated market).
Our London office called us at 4PM on a Friday
(much later over there) saying,
“Mate, got an emergency, need to win this business, and we still don’t have the it idea. The client’s hope is that someone can prove [to British Gas] they understand the problem: incessant switching. Can you make us something great that demonstrates that we understand the problem and we’re the agency for them?” I asked how much time do I have, what’s the budget? “Mate, bit of a rub there, we need it tomorrow morning, our time, and we only have a couple quid, a ‘few grand’ you’d say.”
After laughing at them,
our Chief Creative Officer said yes.
We conceived of, wrote, shot and edited this piece overnight, using buddies in the business as talent. The Brits in our London office loved it, the British Gas folks signed on the dotted line,we gave everyone gas. So to speak.
