Investment management company Octopus today announces the launch of its new masterbrand, which brings to life the shared mission of Octopus’ existing six businesses under one umbrella brand.
Founded in 2000, Octopus has grown rapidly over the last 17 years expanding into new markets as it looks to transform broken industries. Today it manages more than £6.7 billion of investments on behalf of more than 150,000 customers. The company, which moved to a group structure last year, includes Octopus Investments, Octopus Healthcare, Octopus Ventures, Octopus Energy, Octopus Property and Octopus Labs, its fintech accelerator business.
The new masterbrand reflects these individual businesses’ shared vision to make a difference to their customers’ lives and the world around them. It is the first time the Group story has been told through a creative campaign as it shifts to a masterbrand approach.
To launch the new masterbrand, Octopus is airing its first ever 30” TV ad on Thursday 22 June running for five weeks. The ad has been produced by the multi-award winning MPC Creative under the creative direction of Julian Borra from The Thin Air Factory, and will be supported by a media and Video on Demand campaign realised in film.
Questioning the status quo
Octopus was founded on the principle that only by questioning the way things are can you make them better. It’s about refusing to accept the status quo and always looking to put the needs of the customer first.
Simon Rogerson, CEO of Octopus, said: “Imagination, questioning the way things are, and always looking to do things better have been a fundamental part of how we’ve built the business over the last 17 years. This campaign not only brings this to life but it does so in a way that totally captures our personality.”
The ad looks to dramatise how wonderful ‘questions’ can be when turned to a bigger purpose. The advertisement takes this insight and translates it into compelling creative. Question marks take the form of flying birds whose murmuration marks a strong, spectacular show of strength and purpose as they fly together.
The spot ends with the new strapline ‘Octopus. A brighter way’, which underpins the company’s commitment to doing things differently for the good of its customers and wider society.
The ‘A brighter way’ vision is amplified throughout the company’s touchpoints – so the website, logo and other collateral uses bright colours to underline the positive outlook and optimistic ethos of the way Octopus does business.
The campaign is aimed at financially aware customers, expert financial advisers and influencers, all of whom Octopus’ research has shown trust mass marketing platforms like television, are heavy VOD users and employ relevant social media for business advancement, knowledge and networking.
Seb Dreyfus, Chief Marketing Officer at Octopus Group, said: “Our move into TV advertising and our shift to a masterbrand approach is a major milestone for the business and testament to both our growth over the last 17 years and our ambition to do things differently and ask the important questions for our customers.
“We wanted a compelling piece of creative to demonstrate the distinctiveness of our new group brand and to underline that there is a brighter way to do business. Our businesses have a shared mission to work with our customers to make tomorrow better than today.”
Diarmid Harrison-Murray, Director, said: “The concept of bringing a flock of separate feathered questions marks together to represent the coming together of the masterbrand was a joy to bring to life and a great challenge to visualise a unique cgi character never seen before.”
