Online agency YOPA and Savills launch TV ad campaigns this weekend

Online estate agency YOPA - well known recently for advertisements featuring the Village People - is this evening launching a new tongue-in-cheek TV campaign this evening. 

The first of three different 30-second adverts will run during the first episode of Channel 4‘s new season of Gogglebox starting at 9pm.

Last week YOPA revealed that LSL Property Services was to sink £20m into its operations, along with the Daily Mail and General Trust - already an investor - putting in another £7.6m. This comes on top of investment put in by Savills in recent years.

The adverts all explore the idea that selling your home with YOPA is a ‘no-brainer'.

The first features a man who would love to sell his home with YOPA but can’t because he has been entombed in ice on an old ship for the last 80 years. 

The adverts are part of YOPA’s ‘Seriously, why not?’ campaign, which will run from September 8, with more expected to be released in the new year. All voiceovers are courtesy of YOPA brand ambassador Julian Barratt - a comic who appeared in BBC series The Mighty Boosh.

The campaign was created by ad agency Lucky Generals, which has developed content for Amazon, Paddy Power and Twitter.

The second advert will feature a man who cannot use YOPA because he is just two inches tall and lives in an old baked bean tin under floorboards.

The final television advert features a dreary-looking lady who would also like to sell her home with YOPA - except she can’t, as she’s trapped in a dream.

The fixed-fee estate agency’s new look and advertising campaign has been spearheaded by Gav Thompson, who joined YOPA in May as chief marketing officer.

Thompson previously held the same role at bookmakers’ Paddy Power. He says: “The idea for the adverts was simple. When I looked at all the benefits of selling a home, to me it was a no brainer. Fair fees, quick sales, top customer service - you’d need a ruddy good reason not to sell your home with YOPA - which is why we went with the line, ‘Seriously, why not?’”

The marketing campaign will also include a trio of different radio adverts being launched on the Heart network later this month. 

Meanwhile Savills itself is also launching its latest TV advertising campaign this weekend, with the first showing during Sunday night’s ITV1 drama Victoria.

Like YOPA, this year’s Savills campaign will have a surreal element building on the concept of talking houses which featured in the agency’s 2016 TV ads.

“We feel strongly that these ads, which build on our first TV advertising campaign launched last year, illustrate what we want to get across. This new stage in our campaign is designed to communicate the depth of our experience, as a business founded 150 years ago, but also that we understand the complex nature of moving home, both for buyers and sellers, whatever their stage on the housing ladder” says Justin Marking, head of global residential.

You can see the first of YOPA's three new adverts below: