Materials

HypnoCat TV advert encourages viewers to recycle electricals

Material Focus’ brand messenger, ‘HypnoCat’, will be making an appearance on TV nationwide in a first for the ‘Recycle Your Electricals’ campaign.

Scott Butler, Executive Director of Material Focus, told Resource: “This year sees a step change in our strategy, moving from successful regional campaigns using localised media across digital, radio and outdoor advertising, to a national campaign using TV as the primary medium.”

E-waste is the fastest-growing waste stream globally. In the UK, 155,000 tonnes of small electricals are discarded annually. This leads to environmental damage and a risk to human health through waste fires, but also a loss of precious metals. The behaviour change campaign sets out to address this issue and stop people from throwing their unwanted electricals in the bin and to start recycling them instead.

The TV advert debuted on Wednesday (22 March) across the ITV and Sky channel portfolio, supported by radio, social media and video on demand. Butler added: “TV will give us much greater reach and much higher attention than other channels, with the combined daily reach of ITV, Sky, Channel 4, etc. being 33 million viewers.”

The 30-second ad not only highlights key e-waste, but also alerts the public to items often not thought of as e-waste such as electric toothbrushes and battery-operated toys. It goes on to demonstrate the possible outcomes of e-waste recycling to motivate people to engage in the practice.

It’s not commonplace to see recycling adverts on TV. Butler told Resource the thinking behind the campaign: “We will be using TV as a primary medium and as part of a mix of other channels that will act as reminders of the TV ad for those who see and hear HypnoCat in other places.

“Ultimately we want to give the public confidence that their electricals can and should be recycled – and how to go about that by visiting our postcode locator.”

The advert was directed by Chris Boyle through Private Island studio and creative advertising agency Truant London. Music producers JOLT created a hypnotic trance track to carry the message of HypnoCat.

David Gamble, Truant London Executive Creative Director and co-founder said: “HypnoCat was born to solve a tricky behavioural problem. His sole purpose is to stop people from binning their electricals and start recycling them. He allows us to say very functional and direct messages in a fun and engaging way.

“His catchy trance track and mind-bending visuals are hard to ignore, while his repetitive lyrics are even harder to forget. Just ask my kids. They've been singing it for weeks. Apologies in advance, parents. But if everyone starts to recycle their unwanted electricals, we promise to make him stop.”

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