The Brief

Hillarys, established in 1971, is the leading retailer of made-to-measure blinds, curtains, awnings, and shutters in the UK and Ireland.

Since 2017, we've transitioned from pure response marketing to a 60:40 brand-response model. However, by 2022, data from the previous two years revealed a significant gap—brand awareness was high, but consideration lagged by 50-60%. While many were aware of Hillarys, the brand was perceived as too expensive, limiting consideration and preference.

Our challenge was not only to build brand preference among younger, more affluent audiences, but also to foster deeper brand love, which would drive long-term loyalty and consideration.

All this needed to be achieved without compromising short-term leads and appointments. This required a comprehensive repositioning at the brand level, while still maintaining our direct-response activity.

The Killer Insight

Hillarys has long struggled with the perception of being "expensive," a challenge intensified by the rise of cheaper alternatives in the market. These DIY options were perceived by consumers as offering better value, partly due to their supposed improving quality as promoted via social media.

We found that our target audience prides themselves on being financially savvy, often seeking clever ways to cut costs on home purchases. As a result, window dressings were left as a last-minute consideration to renovations, once budget had been spent elsewhere. Additionally, Hillarys’ full “make, measure, fit” in-home service wasn’t well understood in a market where DIY solutions dominate, further affecting the brand’s perceived value.

We needed to position Hillarys not only as offering great style and service but as the wisest and most savvy choice—demonstrating that the value provided far outweighs the initial cost. This required both rational messaging around the range, style, and service included in the price, as well as an emotional connection to inspire a meaningful reappraisal of the brand.

The Red Thread Idea

Building on the insight that our target audience doesn’t see the value in Hillarys’ end-to-end service compared to DIY options, we created a campaign to plant the seed of doubt about the real cost of choosing cheaper alternatives. The idea was simple: DIY might seem like a good deal, but it could lead to regret. We launched a new creative platform: For the window wise.

To add warmth to the brand tone of voice, we introduced a witty brand character—a wise owl, voiced by national treasure Jennifer Saunders. This clever owl became the voice of savvy consumers, or "window wise" shoppers, guiding them toward making the smarter, more reliable choice. The owl, a humorous observer, narrates the struggles of households attempting DIY window dressing projects, asking “D-I-Why oh why oh why” as we see the chaos unfold. In contrast, Hillarys effortlessly delivers perfect, stylish results, showing that sometimes the smartest, most savvy choice is to leave it to the experts.

As for the window wise rolled out across paid, owned and earned channels (including CRM, web, social, and print) we needed a simple, branded device to quickly communicate the risks of DIY.

We developed the Woes > Wise construct, which contrasts DIY blunders with Hillarys’ flawless service, reinforcing the brand’s quality, reliability and value for money. This device became central to our messaging, ensuring consistency across all platforms.

Campaigns using fluent devices like the owl character benefit from enhanced storytelling, but as proved by analysis of the IPA Database of Effectiveness, are also more likely to achieve market share and profit gains compared to those without.

By using the witty owl character and a wise tone of voice, we created a unified brand presence that resonated with our target audience and contributed to a measurable increase in brand awareness.