Shred-It has launched its first integrated campaign in the United Kingdom with the help of its global agency of record — the Toronto-based Revolution.
The initiative, which targets businesses, focuses on seemingly innocent office fixtures such as trash cans, recycling bins and storage boxes, driving home the point that leaving important documents in such places can lead to information and privacy breaches, lost revenue and substantial fines if they fall into the wrong hands.
The creative leverages caution and warning signs like those usually seen on toxic chemicals and around electrical wires, to highlight the risks of leaving sensitive papers lying around the office. The effort launched Feb. 7 with a homepage takeover of The Times and accompanying OOH and print ads, along with PR and digital.
Marcus Wiseman, partner and strategic lead at Revolution, told Marketing that the timing was right for a major U.K. push because the brand (which it says serves 400,000 customers in 18 countries) is poised for growth after merging with document destruction firm Cintas in 2014, and acquiring Iron Mountain’s business in Ireland, Australia and the U.K. The upcoming tax season also informed the timing of the launch, Wiseman added.
“Q1 represents an important time for businesses,” Wiseman said. “They generate a lot of paper during tax time and for fiscal year-end reporting. All that paper – if it’s not properly managed and securely destroyed – can put businesses at risk for an information breach. The campaign focusses on the idea that treating confidential information casually – dropping paper indiscriminately into a trash can or into a recycling bin —puts businesses at serious legal and financial risk.”
Revolution was named Shred-It’s global AOR last year after a month-long agency review process that saw three Canadian agencies and one U.K.-based shop make the short list. The brand is the two-year-old agency’s first global client.
The effort is slated to run for six weeks, with Mellor Croy handling media and Weber Shandwick UK taking lead on PR. The North American version of the campaign – which features similar creative – will launch next week. In Canada, the campaign will be supported via radio ads in both English and French.
