MHA highly commended for prestigious industry award

We’re proud that our first ever marketing campaign involving TV was put forward and shortlisted for a prestigious industry award.

The advert for Auchlochan Garden Village in Scotland featured existing drone footage of MHA’s largest retirement village and promoted an open day to a wider audience across the Scottish Lowlands as part of our fully integrated campaign.

It was entered in to, and shortlisted for, the annual Thinkbox TV Planning Awards, which celebrate the best in the commercial television industry advertising and the people behind the creative work. Entry is fierce for the awards, with over 80 entries this year for just six awards.

The advert was developed with the support of our marketing agency Alchemy Media who assisted in repurposing existing drone and video footage of Auchlochan. Brands shortlisted for awards included Tesco, Direct Line, Nationwide and Superdrug. For our category of Best low budget use of TV we were up against Vagisil and SodaStream.

Though this was our first venture into TV, we have maintained its use, as it worked exceptionally well for us and have since included TV within our January  and June 2019 campaigns.

The advert has raised brand recognition and awareness of Auchlochan Garden Village within Scotland and TV is now considered a valuable part of our integrated campaigns.

Following our advert being broadcast, we noticed an increase in people visiting our website, with more than 10,000 extra visits to it compared with the previous year and an increase of people attending the open day being advertised compared to previous events of 450%, all of which helped lead to an increase of property sales at Auchlochan and new residents to the community.

MHA’s Head of Marketing Nick Williams (pictured left) said: "It’s clear that the judging panel were impressed by how we planned and delivered the campaign for Auchlochan and the results we achieved on what was a very modest budget in TV terms. 

"To have our entry make it through to the final shortlist stage alongside some of the UK’s most famous brands is a phenomenal achievement from everyone involved.

"It was the result of exceptional teamwork between the marketing team and our partners at Alchemy Media and our friends at APS who produced the original video."

Judges’ comments included: "To achieve such incredible results from such a low budget was simply amazing" and "The clever and neat planning, efficient airtime solution and the great creative made it feel like a national campaign."

Despite not winning the award itself - that honour went to SodaStream - the advert has helped raise the profile of Auchlochan Garden Village among its target audience as well having a positive impact on current residents and staff.