VCCP launches first global marketing campaign for Sage

VCCP has launched the first global marketing campaign for Sage, the accounting, financial, HR and payroll technology company.

The hero films at the heart of the campaign focus on real-life customers who work for small and medium-sized businesses: Laura Rose, chief executive at Equestrian Rose and Joanne Halsall, head of finance at Crow Wood Leisure.

Rose’s ad “First order” features an animated woman, colourised, skipping through a black and white seaside town. Rose speaks in a voiceover, telling viewers that the excitement of her first order never went away.

Rose said: “For me, putting us – their customers – front and centre in a national campaign shows just how much Sage believes in SMBs.”

The campaign itself is designed to reflect the changing needs of SMBs.

Halsall’s ad, 'Strength', also features an animated woman, colourised, rowing on a black and white lake. Halsall’s voiceover talks about the “strength” of asking for help when you don’t know something as a business owner.

Cath Keers, chief marketing officer at Sage, said: "We were looking for stories that would resonate with other business owners. The highs and lows of doing business is a theme we hear regularly from our customers, so the moment we heard Laura and Joanne’s stories, we knew it encapsulated the feelings of other small and medium businesses."

Keers added: "The world has changed and doing business has changed too. And that is why we’ve changed. We have a new purpose, a new way of doing business, and a new look." 

This is the first campaign VCCP has produced for Sage since winning the account in January 2022. The agency worked with its global content studio Girl&Bear and its product and services innovation company Bernadette to create the campaign.

Mark Orbine, executive creative director at VCCP London, said: "At VCCP we always talk about indelibly branded worlds. Take the logo away from O2, for instance, and you still know who is talking to you.

"So using black and white real-world backdrops and the Sage green in our animations we created a unique new world that will hopefully over time will become branded properties synonymous with Sage."

Working on brand and strategic development was SomeOne, as well as Sage’s interim executive vice-president, brand marketing, Susie Moore.

Media planning and buying has been handled by Neo Media World. The TV ads will be supported by digital and social, as well as an out of home campaign. Sage’s trademark “flow” will also feature in a digital activation throughout the Elizabeth Line tube stations.