HomeServe's 'We've Got Your Back' pays playful tribute to its engineers across two home emergency scenarios

HomeServe's new video campaign, 'We've Got Your Back', pays a playful tribute to its engineers across two different home emergency scenarios.

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Challenge

HomeServe's engineers are its most visible brand asset – the human face of an otherwise invisible product. The challenge was to make customers feel the reassurance of HomeServe cover in a way that would cut through on digital channels, drive direct response, and work across multiple home emergency scenarios.

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Creative

Happy Hour took HomeServe's brand promise literally. If HomeServe has your back, why not put an engineer there?

The 'We've Got Your Back' campaign introduces homeowner Jim, a man with terrible luck – and excellent posture, given he permanently carries HomeServe engineer Kevin on his back. When a boiler breaks or a pipe bursts, Kevin is already there, swooping in to save the day while Jim gets on with life: enduring a frozen living room, soldiering through a soaking wet videocall, entirely unbothered.

The centrepiece prop, a custom-made backpack housing a real, full-sized engineer, became the creative anchor for the whole campaign. Dry, deadpan, and instantly memorable, it transforms an abstract promise of peace of mind into something you can actually see.

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Watch the boiler-themed video above, and the plumbing-themed video below.

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Execution

Two problem/solution films were produced for digital and social channels. The first features a broken boiler and a very cold Jim. The second, a burst tap and a very wet one. Each spot is designed to grab attention in the opening seconds and land its message fast – with a visual hook unusual enough to make audiences stop scrolling, and a tone warm enough to make them stay.

Matt Cooper, Head of Creative at Happy Hour, said,

The first challenge was coming up with an idea that captures the feeling of reassurance that HomeServe offers its customers in a way that would stop our audiences in their tracks. Something eye-catching, funny and, most importantly, memorable. That’s when the engineer-in-a-backpack popped into our brains. Always on hand to help you out when you need it. The second challenge came when the team at HomeServe said they loved the idea... We realised we’d have to figure out how to actually put a real-life engineer in a backpack. We can’t tell you how we managed to do it, but can assure you that no engineers were harmed in the making of this ad.

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Results

Amy Belbeck, Chief Marketing Officer at HomeServe said,

The ‘We’ve Got Your Back’ campaign really illustrates the main benefits of HomeServe emergency home cover – having peace-of-mind when something goes wrong in your home. While the concept is fun and tongue-in-cheek, we do want our customers to really feel like they have HomeServe engineers in their backpack ready to go when they need them most, and this campaign does a great job in bringing that feeling to life.

Our digital channels are always in need of video that grabs attention in the first few seconds to drive direct response, and this is a concept that we can carry across multiple iterations, activating at various category entry points.

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