Special Group convinces David Hasselhoff to change his name to launch Amaysim campaign
Australia’s fourth largest telco, amaysim, has revealed the reason behind the recent announcement by American TV acting legend, David Hasselhoff, that he was changing his name to “David Hoff.”
The campaign was launched on Friday via social media when David Hasselhoff released a video claiming to be changing his name to David Hoff. At the same time, his social media monikers were changed from ‘David Hasselhoff’ to ‘David Hoff’, further fuelling speculation as to what was behind the move.
The video set media and social platforms abuzz, firstly in the States and later in Australia and across the UK and Europe. By Friday afternoon (AEST) the stunt was trending globally on Twitter.
amaysim has since confirmed that the name change was part of a marketing campaign created by Special Group, Sydney under the banner ‘less hassle, more hoff’. The campaign focuses on amaysim’s commitment to delivering an amazingly simple experience for mobile users.
“This is part of a broader campaign we’re launching today to remind Aussies that taking at least one hassle out of your life can be as simple as changing your mobile phone plan,” said amaysim’s Chief Commercial Officer, Andrew Balint.
“We’re excited to be able work with such an exciting challenger brand in the telco category. Oh, and our favourite cast member of Baywatch,” said Special Group’s creative partner, Dave Bowman.
Special Group has been working with amaysim since August after a competitive pitch. “We are absolutely delighted to be working with the amaysim team. They’re agile, ambitious, collaborative and innovative. It’s been great to partner with a company whose culture so closely fits with our own and we can’t wait to see where we can help take the brand,” said Cade Heyde, managing partner at Special Group.
The campaign includes TV, digital and content executions to be released this weekend.
Agency: Special Group Australia
Creative Partner: Matty Burton and Dave Bowman
Art Director: Charlie Gearside
Copywriter: Jack Nunn
Design: Dan Jones
CEO: Lindsey Evans
Managing Partner: Cade Heyde
Account Director: Lily Waters
Executive Producer: Celia Nicholas
Planning Director: Dave Hartmann
Production: Burger Films ( UK )
Director: Matt Huntley
Executive Producer: Alan Traquair
Editor: Bernard Garry – The Editors
Online: The Editors
Composition/Sound: Song Zu
PR: Hausmann Communications
Media: PHD
Client: amaysim
Chief Commercial Officer: Andrew Balint
Head of Customer Acquisition: Paul Bailey
Senior Marketing Manager: Heidi Melville
Head of Corporate Affairs & Communications: Gerard Mansour
14 Comments
Terrible pun
This dinoceleb been wiped to death! And the idea even more so.
Oh god. Rubbish pun and honestly nobody cares.
and yet you cared enough enough to write that?
Ironic!
He sounds drunk.
This industry is absolutely baffling. So much tall poppy. It’s like driving. Someone toots at you and so you start to toot back. We create this world where the norm is to find holes in something versus see the good in something. Every bit of work has both. Creative is almost always divisive. Some will like. Some will hate.
Groan, I’m sure someone has criticised your work before. On behalf of them, I apologise.
Well done on what I think is a smart, simple idea that delivers on Amaysim’s proposition in market.
Well done boys, nothing wrong with a bad pun, surely not meant to be taken too seriously. It’s an ad people. CC
So much negativity.
Congrats guys on what I thought was a smart simple idea. Definitely better than the other generic stuff flooding the market right now.
The Hoff loves a Telco:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTJknMp_LYM
That is not a telco by the way – that is an internet provider. And an ad from 1991.
If you look harder I’m sure you’ll find an actual telco though, he has done a lot of ads.
And you’re a bit of a weirdo, no? Still scratching my head as to what the point of your post is? Maybe you could make it more clear? We’re you trying to find something with the same idea?
Can you find anything where he has changed his name? Or any celebrity has changed their name for a campaign? That would be closer to the idea I think, if that’s your point.
Or is it that that he is over used? Maybe the guiness book of records mention as the most watched man on Television, that would make him over saturated I guess?
Sure he changed his name legally, but he symbolically dropped the “Hassel” from his name as soon as he embraced the nickname “The Hoff”, and that was years ago.
Also, the spelling difference in the pun “Hassel/Hassle” is additionally grating.
Lazy thinking.
Hey to been there done that,
Geelong Cats footballer Garry Hocking changed his name to “Whiskas” back in the 90s to raise money for the club that was almost bankrupt. Played the worst game of his career that week too.
Anyway, carry on.
Yes, it is a bad pun, yes he’d do anything for a buck, yes there’s no real idea here and yes, it’s rubbish.
A serious piece to camera, but based around a silly pun using a joke celeb?
This spot should have been fun-er, sillier.
See GE Lighting with Jeff Goldblum for a lesson in how to do this:
https://vimeo.com/108579174