PRESS PAUSE FOR A CUPPA?

We created a completely new ad format and a new occasion – the ‘Ad Pause Unit’.

Across Virgin Media, 4oD and on TiVo, when content was paused the happy, familiar face of Tetley Teafolk’s ‘Gaffa’ character would pop onto the screen and pose the question - “Paused for a Cuppa?”

His cheerful face would then remain there for the entire time the screen was paused. The format was something never seen before by consumers. One of the stand-out features of this new technology was that Tetley’s tea reminder was unavoidable. It created a visual reminder of the link between taking a break from a TV show and taking some time for a hot drink. Gaffa essentially broke down the fourth wall, coming into the viewer’s lounge room, creating a relationship between consumer and brand.

The “Pause for a Cuppa?” unit screened over 2.3 million occasions on 4oD and 2.1 million occasions on the Virgin Media platform. With an average pause length of 72 seconds, this translated to an equivalent airtime value of £1.5 million – almost 20 times what was paid. Most importantly, prior to this, our top of mind awareness with 25-44 year olds was below market share at 30%. Post activity, awareness jumped to 37% amongst this core group. The 4oD unit linked to the Tetley Teafolk Facebook page and over this period we saw an increase of nearly 30,000 fans.