Working for Egg’s internal creative agency, I produced online and offline copy that exceeded sales targets whilst promoting and evolving the Egg brand. Writing to tight deadlines I executed a range of briefs from press ads and online banner ads to integrated mailing campaigns with follow-up homepages and emails.
Despite the complicated nature of financial services (and in keeping with Egg’s brand) my copy had to be irreverent, personable and engaging as well as informative, concise and efficient.
This was a DM postcard to customers whose email addresses were incorrect. Not the most interesting of subject matters, but the idea and execution put a nice twist on a dull request.
This was a tube ad I wrote for a piece of financial planning software Egg was developing. It never made it to market, but the ads, with this tube poster being centrepiece, were tested in focus groups. One person in the group, an English lecturer, described it as 'exceptionally clever' and said he was going to set his students the challenge of creating their own versions, as an assignment.
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If you think it is just another one of those 'highlight a few words in the paragraph to form a sentence' deals, it isn't. Working chronologically forward into old age, this is written as a stream of consciousness that represents life, and its increasing financial burdens, with the highlighted sections marking the switch from one time period to another.
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This meant first coming up with a statement that encapsulated the problem we thought the product solved. I then split this into segments, with each segment (bar the first and last one) having to be a sensible end to the preceding thought, as well as a sensible beginning to next thought, which in turn had to end sensibly with the words from the next segment, and so on.
The software came on a CD. This was its cover.
A nice little two-part headline for a boring subject - insurance.
Another line from a well-performing little insert for Egg Card.
Part of Egg's branding, for a while, was these 'customer voice/Egg response' layouts; the first part vocalising a frustration, with Egg then coming to the rescue with a solution.
This loans DM was a featured creative in Precision Marketing magazine’s ‘Creative Critique’ section: “Humour, modesty and class. I love this. Everything about this mailing works and is relevant to the brand… I cannot think of one thing I would change.”
Another DM that pulled in big numbers, following the seasonal splurge.
Another post-Christmas Egg Loans DM. In fact, I think this might be the first DM I ever wrote. Hangs on the idea of looking like 'another bill', but instead providing relief from them.
I was pleased with this simple headline summing up an Egg Savings product that matched your returns to rises in the FTSE, but guaranteed your money should it drop. It increased sales by 35% over their previous pack, generating over £200,000 of income and exceeding forecasts, with average customer investment rising by more than 50%.
This was a staff welcome pack that myself and the Senior Designer gave the Egg treatment.
