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The Sun has launched its January blues-busting Big Smile Giveaway – a range of promotions, funny content and giveaways to help the nation through its ‘most depressing’ month.
The multichannel campaign, developed in partnership with Grey London and WPP’s Team News, continues the ‘Get Involved’ brand proposition the UK’s best-selling newspaper launched last year. The Big Smile Giveaway broke with a 50’ TV brand spot on 1st January and is supported by additional 60’/40’ versions, digital outdoor and DM activity, and in-paper.
The ad, which was produced by Rattling Stick and directed by former Fallon Executive Creative Director Andy McLeod, is a charming sing-along led by a young girl already fed up with January. Encouraging viewers to ‘smile through the pain, the snotty noses and the rain’, her cheeky lyrics and unexpected delivery will put smiles on the faces of even the gloomiest viewers. It’s the perfect introduction to a campaign that plans to ‘kick January where there ain’t no sun’.
The Sun’s Big Smile Giveaway runs for three months, kicking off with the return of holidays from £9.50 in January and culminating in the paper’s two free tickets to Alton Towers promotion in March. In the intervening weeks other smile-inducing offers include family days out at top UK attractions, money off shopping, free family cinema tickets and free Lego. The campaign will live in editorial as well as through marketing, promotions and on-line, with a range of content created to give away smiles across all of The Sun’s platforms – the paper itself, thesun.co.uk, social media and an app.
Furthermore, The Sun Smile Squad will be visiting towns up and down the country purveying random acts of kindness – from giving out free Sunbrellas to keep you dry and gloves to keep you warm, to paying road toll charges and providing cups of tea from the Sun tea van.
Rob Painter, Marketing Director The Sun, says: “There’s no better barometer of the nation’s mood than The Sun, and we know that the start of the year and winter can be tough. With the Big Smile Giveaway, we wanted to give our readers something to look forward to and put a smile back on the faces of Britain.”
Nick Stringer, Director of Marketing Communications, News International, says: “We needed an idea that could amplify everything that’s great about The Sun, at a time of year when people need a pick-me-up. Grey’s campaign does that perfectly, with a strong look and feel for the quarter and a TV spot that is a call to the British public to ‘get involved’ with the paper’s editorial and its unrivalled promotional schedule.”
Nils Leonard, Executive Creative Director, GREY London, says: "Nothing like a singsong to get us through our darkest month. The Sun’s Big Smile Giveaway is perfectly fronted by a toothless superstar.”