Mother Counts Costs of Favours for Halfords

The costly consequences of asking a friend, neighbour or family member for a favour – like tackling a small repair or maintenance job – is the subject of a major new advertising campaign from Halfords.

 

The campaign comprises three humorous films produced by advertising agency Mother to promote Halfords’ unique Wefit service.

 

The films entitled Timmy & the Gazman, Needles and Bob begin airing on Wednesday 16 Oct and use different scenarios to demonstrate that no favour is truly ‘free’ – as people feel obliged to return an act of kindness, often to their cost.

 

Halfords Marketing Director, David Durie says: “Wefit is an amazing product - a diamond within Halfords brand offer but not enough people know about it. In this campaign we wanted to use humour to connect with customers and really drive awareness of the Wefit offer.”

“The idea that a favour can be expensive is spot on – as many motorists who need replacement products feel trapped between expensive dealerships and DIY – Halfords Wefit offers a real solution that doesn’t involve asking a favour from an “expert” friend.”

 

In ‘Timmy & the Gazman’, Tim ponders the likely outcome of asking his extremely annoying but well-meaning brother-in-law Gary to help him change a car bulb – only to decide that Halfords is the better option  - after imagining how really annoying the ‘Gazman’ can be.

 

In ‘Needles’ and ‘Bob’  - the motorists ask for help from a neighbour to change a car battery and wiper blade - only to regret their offer to return the favour when they are asked to be a trainee acupuncturists patient and artist’s muse respectively.

 

Tim McNaughton, Creative Director at Mother says: “The Ads use the social truth that when you ask someone for a favour - you owe them a favour back - which can prove very “expensive”. 
“In the Ads we hyperbolise the favour the motorists are asked to do in return. It may seem like a good idea to ask neighbour Fred – but it can really cost you in the long run.”
For the first time Halfords is promoting #worstfavour within the ads to encourage social media engagement via Twitter and reward followers who share tales of their worst favours via the microsite www.worstfavour.co.uk 

 

The scripts were written by James Ross Edwards and Matt Swinburne, Art Directed and CD’d by Mother. Production Company was Blink.