Can entertaining ads can work too? Do Compare the market / Compare the Meerkat prove it?

I have written on the blog about how annoying and irritating adverts seem to be successful at driving business (click here to read my posting: Annoyingly annoying ads work! )

I was not suggesting that annoying people is a guarantee to be successful when creating advertising, but by understanding the reasons they work will help you create better communication.

Annoying ads, like the ones for the insurance comparison site Go Compare, show they achieve a few key things:

1. They stop people. 
2. They are remembered.
3. They are spoken about and so have a life beyond the media run in.
4. They are well branded.
5. They have one single key message.

And so do highly entertaining ads as well.

I wanted to celebrate a campaign that has been running for many years, and has found a way to constantly update and retell the same story and message. 

The campaign is one of my favourite ads ever. They stop me, I recall them and they have found a way to expand from the confines of a TV ad into social media, podcasts, toys, books and more. They are very well branded and have a very single and key message.

The ads are for the price comparison insurance, and now other financial services, site called Compare the Market. The ads are based on a simple premise and story of people getting confused and visiting a site called "Compare the Meerkat" instead of "Compare the Market".

The annoying "Go Compare" and "Compare the Market" campaigns both do the job of building brand awareness and recall, so when I go to buy insurance or they are top of mind. This is powerful. In the cluttered world we live in, making sure you are remembered and being considered is about as much as you may be able to communicate. 

But the Compare the Market do it in an entertaining and amusing way. Creating a positive and engaging way. I also suspect they will have greater longevity. They certainly have more campaignability, shown by how they have taken it into promotional as well as brand executions.


The campaign is so successful that the Compare the Meerkat Channel on YouTube has thousands of subscribers and the Ads in it millions of views!

Here is a selection of some of the campaign, and some of my favourites.





Office Worker gets a visit from the Compare the Meerkats:


Lady gets a visit at home from Compare the meerkats:






Sergei joins the Circus


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