Duracell and Wunderman Thompson highlight costly battery replacements

The campaign is for Duracell-owned Procell brand

By Creative Salon

21 March 2022

Procell, the battery brand owned by Duracell and designed for industrial and professional use, has launched a new campaign with Wunderman Thompson to showcase how its longer-lasting batteries can help businesses save money and avoid unnecessary disruption.

The integrated B2B campaign, titled ‘Procell Battery Changer’, breaks on March 14 and runs throughout the year, demonstrating Wunderman Thompson’s whole brand thinking approach across online video, digital banners, social, paid search and direct marketing, as well as trade show support.

With witty creative, it aims to shift the procurement thought process by raising awareness among a business audience of batteries’ true cost beyond purchase price by highlighting the time and money implications of having to replace batteries more frequently.

A 30” video spot shows a gleeful office worker revealing a great cost-saving measure to his boss. By switching to long-lasting Procell batteries, he says the firm will no longer need to pay for a full-time ‘battery changer’ and their assistant. His boss expresses disbelief that they even pay for this, while battery changers attempting to replace the office clock’s battery end up smashing it instead. The spot ends with the line: ‘Procell. Replace Less. Save More’.

Another spot features an office worker who doesn’t require any battery replacements; nonetheless, the battery changers hang around. This spot features the line: ‘If you pay less for batteries, you might pay more for labor.’

Steve Pilcher, Duracell global brand director said: “At Procell we are delighted to be launching this new campaign to drive awareness of our professional batteries. We believe very strongly in the power of driving an emotional connection with our buyers, just like we would in the retail world, to differentiate ourselves and build top of mind awareness. This new campaign aims to cut through a cluttered media landscape with an idea that is different, unexpected and will get people talking. Huge credit to our agency partners at Wunderman Thompson for bringing a complex concept to life in a simple, short and holistic way.”

Jason Berry, creative director at Wunderman Thompson said: “B2B advertising is often stale and unengaging, but our campaign treats procurement buyers as humans who just want to be entertained and engaged like anyone else. It’s time to have fun with a subject that is normally prosaic and functional so, to create cut-through, we devised a humorous personification of a category problem, and positioned Procell batteries as the solution, harvesting comedy gold with a ruthlessly logical idea.”

CREDITS

Executive Creative Director: Tom Drew

Creative Director: Jason Berry

Junior Copywriter: Will Simpson

Junior Art Director: Rowan Hopkins

Producer: Liberty Willison

Production Assistant: Yasmin Al-Jawad

Integrated Programme Director: Danny Baylis

Creative Producer: Elizabeth Marlborough

Executive Strategy Director: Neil Godber

Senior Planner: Jonny Park

Business Director: Lizzie Alleyne