Co-op signs up advertising heavyweights for first TV campaign

The Co-operative Legal Services has today launched its first TV and radio ad campaign in a bid to establish the brand more firmly in the consumer market.

The campaign, estimated to cost about £5m, will air across TV channels and radio stations across London, and includes social media, press advertising and PR activity.

Head of Co-op Legal Services Christina Blacklaws said: “We’re aiming to raise public awareness of the Co-operative Legal Services, and the only way you can do that is with this kind of campaign.”

“If we’re aspiring to be the largest and best-quality consumer legal services brand in the country, we need to be public facing,” Blacklaws told Solicitors Journal.

The ads, created by agency Leo Burnett, whose clients include McDonalds, Kellogg, Daz and Shelter,  attempt to highlight how litigants are often intimidated by legal jargon and feel like children when having to deal with legal matters.

The campaign will be centred mostly on London but will be national in terms of Sky and other satellite channels, Blacklaws said.

The TV advert was directed by barrister turned film maker Jamie Rafn, whose Budweiser ad was broadcast during the Superbowl and who won a Cannes Gold Lion for his work with Johnnie Walker.

Pushes are also being made across social media platforms, said Blacklaws. The Co-op will launch a YouTube channel, called The Practice, with 17 videos, each between 4-6 minutes long, giving viewers advice on specific topics.

Supplements will also be placed in the The Telegraph in coming weeks, along with ads in other national newspapers. 

With its first mass media campaign, Co-op follows in the footsteps of the likes of QualitySolicitors which run several national campaigns last year after retiring its initial mascot Miss QS, and US legal providers such as LegalZoom and RocketLawyer.

The adverts are part of the Co-op Legal Services' move to build their brand and support the expansion of their legal services, said head of marketing Ian Mackie.

"Our offer has never been more relevant, particularly with the changes to legal aid and the questions this raises about access to justice. We believe it's vital to make it as easy as possible for people to gain access to legal advice in both an affordable and unintimidating way," Mackie said.

The TV advert, Mackie went on, aims to highlight the Co-op's understanding and empathy of its customers' fears about dealing with legal matters.

The radio ads feature real-life consumer experiences of legal services, and concentrate on how the Co-op help people going through legal issues with expert, honest advice and clear pricing, said Mackie.

"We are really excited about the campaign, which brings to life our promises - to provide fixed-fee services, free initial advice, drop the use of jargon and handle cases with sensitivity," said Mackie.

Solicitors Journal last week spoke to Blacklaws about its use of unbundling in family law. The Co-op is expanding its current range of modular, fixed and transparently-priced family law services to include an additional range of unbundled legal services, said Blacklaws.