Having confidence in your brand and its messaging is not only good for business, it helps to create a culture of confidence where employees, agencies and consumers alike are aligned with your brand and trust in its purpose and communications.

The AA’s new brand platform, ‘It’s OK, I’m with The AA’ is an astute example of how having confidence in a message connects with customers. The campaign marks a step change for the AA, using humour to communicate a message of reliability and certainty, while rejuvenating the brand for a new generation of vehicle owners.

At the UK Creative Festival in Margate, Stephanie Nattu, Managing Director at Creativebrief, sat down with Will Harrison, Group Marketing Director at The AA, Rob Bovington, Executive Creative Director at The Gate, and Lucas Peon, CCO at The Gate, to discuss the AA’s new ‘It’s OK, I’m with The AA’ brand platform and the importance of having confidence in your message.

Trust in brand positioning

In a world where the perception of driving is changing, Will Harrison, Group Marketing Director at The AA, shared that the AA faced a unique challenge to update the brand for the needs of the modern driver, ensuring that it stays current and relevant against the tides of change. With the introduction of electric vehicles and advancements in technology that mean drivers are less concerned about breaking down, the AA had to think about how its product offering and communications reflect modern perceptions of driving.

‘It’s OK, I’m with The AA’ therefore began with a big internal project around the AA’s purpose, with the team having to consider how and why the AA exists to serve the modern consumer, to land on clear messaging. With confidence and trust at the core of the brand, the team wanted to create a long-term brand platform that is both simple and memorable.

“Advertising that sticks in your mind in a non-annoying way often has a link to culture,” says Harrison “‘It's ok, I'm with The AA’ has that simplicity.”

Humour and the power of connection

Humour is at the heart of the campaign because ‘it is a powerful way to connect’ says Lucas Peon, CCO at The Gate. Peon says that he sees humour as a business solution. It is one of the most powerful means of connection because it disarms an audience, allowing them to drop their guard and disconnect from worry and stress. Delivering a message with laughter helps brands to create a stronger bond with audiences.

Nattu underlines the importance of a humorous approach by pointing to research from Forbes that found 90% of people are more likely to remember a brand's ad if it is funny.

“Humour is the epitome of confidence” adds Will Harrison, Group Marketing Director at The AA. In the TVC spots for the AA, the brand quite literally ‘laughs in the face of adversity’, proving its confidence in its services. The various spots feature scenarios in which people face comedic hardships, be it breaking down mid-bank robbery or being faced with a giant, ominous shadow filling the sky, however, no one is worried; “It’s OK, I’m with The AA” they say.

Confidence garners results

Where the team wrote hundreds of different potential ‘laughing in the face of adversity’ scenarios, they looked out for the stickiest and most memorable to execute. While the framework is one that can be repeated, the strength in the messaging and the freshness of the comedic scenarios gives the team a creative way to continually re-deliver the AA’s values to audiences.

Where humour is a new route for the AA, the team stresses the importance of being willing to take a calculated risk. “We are not saving lives, we are creating moments between Love Island or the football. In finding these moments of connection, there’s an element of why not push it?” says Harrison.

Being passionate and confident in the campaign also helped Harrison sell the idea into the C-suite. While a humorous approach may be new for stakeholders, understanding their needs and business objectives helped Harrison sell the work with a results-focused approach. Already, the campaign has been recognised at awards and helped to change perceptions of the AA. “We set out to shift perceptions and saw a shift of 14% in the first 6 months,” says Harrison, “The It’s OK platform is already being associated with the AA.”

Landing confidence in culture

“Humour that doesn't land is embarrassing,” says Peon, “you have to really go for it.” While humour isn’t always easy to get right, Bovington shares that humorous ads like ‘You've been Tangoed’ are what first drew him to the advertising industry.

Yet beyond being work that is fun to make and wins awards, the platform has opened up new opportunities for the brand to connect with culture. Having a strong message has allowed the AA to spot clear opportunities for cut-through, such as a partnership with Red Bull’s Soapbox Race to spotlight its breakdown coverage service. Other cultural touchpoints for the campaign include a partnership with Kurupt FM which pokes fun at how driving might be mundane but it’s a big part of life, and a Street Fighter spot that plays on the power of nostalgia. Having a confident message carves out a clear place for the brand in different parts of culture.

With strong brand values, a clear point of view and a humorous tone of voice, the AA is proof that brands can craft a confident message that both benefits the bottom line and resonates with consumers.