The NRMA has launched a new TV campaign to highlight its heritage ahead of a push into diversified services.
The campaign, shot by The Works, is all about help. It features some 25 NRMA staff and had The Works trawling the archives of the New South Wales State Library to ensure every detail is correct.
The association is bringing its growing number of services, including the new Emergency Home Assist unit, under one National Roads & Motorists' Association brand umbrella. The emphasis is that it is a mutual that puts members not profits first, and that as well as helping people, it has played a key role in getting roads built and laws changed over the years.
While cars may be breaking down less, and diversification makes sense, the NRMA still has motoring at its core. It rescues 2,000 babies locked in cars every year and is often the organisation that the police call first, head of brand David Coutts told AdNews.
“It is about trust, assistance and advocacy and the ad was an easy way of getting that across. Everybody knows about roadside assistance, has experienced it first hand or knows someone who has. You pay for membership, we come to the rescue with no extra charges. So it is a very easy service.”
But the ad was a bit harder to make. Every historical detail had to be right, says Paul Swann, creative partner at The Works. That's where having NRMA staff in the ad and patrol men on set helped.
“They are the coalface, the ones who interact with people, so we wanted them to feel proud of what they do. They go to incredible lengths.
“Not to say there is not a commercial aspect in everything we do, but on this it was secondary. It was quite refreshing.”
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