Newsworks sits down with OMD’s Sarah Jenkins and Metro’s Jo Mazenko, to talk about the standout campaign ‘The Things’. They reveal the creative inspiration, core objectives and key insights, which made the British Gas campaign such a success.
Sarah Jenkins, head of display investment, OMD
What was the core objective of the campaign?
“The campaign was all about landing our new brand positioning, a long term and enduring platform in ‘Taking care of things’ that is designed to help transform perceptions of British Gas. At the core, we want to drive non-customer consideration, land association of ‘taking care of things’ and long term, see key brand metrics improve.
Specifically for this part of the campaign, we wanted to bring ‘The Things’ to life with an impactful launch using media that was designed to be feeling first. Our creative platform uses the characters to represent our customers and the peace of mind that comes with being a British Gas customer. Their fur is a manifestation of their emotions, and everyday scenarios consumers can recognise and relate to. The campaign needed to use use emotive storytelling to not only get ‘The Things’ noticed, but also show people we take care of things and understand their passions.
As a result, the campaign and execution was designed to tap into trusted spaces where we could align with feel good mindsets and create mini moments of warmth for the nation. This was always going to be more achievable beyond classic media placements, bringing personality and spirit to life”.
Were there any key insights which led to the decision to include news brands on the media plan, as well helping shape the creative direction?
“News brands are a consistent touchpoint for us to drive impact in a highly trusted space and trust is one of a few key drivers for our category (alongside value and customer experience).
Aside from being a touchpoint that could help us launch with unmissable scale and impact, we see strong indexing for our bespoke audience segmentation That guides our investment strategie. Our media mix has historically been very traditional and we are increasingly looking to balance physical print and digital, particularly in key cultural and commercial moments for the sector e.g. price caps.
A key challenge for us was finding ways to be more disruptive than ever before – we regularly use national, local and commuter titles across our media mix, but usually in a traditional manner with page dominant formats (half and full pages). Internal ideation saw us reconsider every media touchpoint that we typically use for British Gas, re-assessing our bravery and creativity for this once in a decade opportunity to launch a new comms platform. We quickly went from exploring new formats to realising that there was so much more we could do in media touchpoints that engage consumers for longer dwell times, in trusted environments.
From here we ideated and found an opportunity to introduce the family in a way that classic video assets couldn’t compare, bringing their personality to life”.
How did the booking process work for this campaign?
“A collective team effort across our connected performance and create and investment specialists, supercharging our plans from a typical campaign launch in news environments, into a fully-fledged cross-platform, integrated approach.
The collaboration of news brand partners was critical to the success of the campaign – in addition to the highly integrated placements throughout Mail Metro Media properties at launch, we ended up running a breadth of additional reactive content that delivered on the passions of our audience.
We ran custom creative and editorial integrations across the likes of Wimbledon, Women’s Euros, Oasis reunions and school holidays. We got to a brilliant integration of our paid and earned placements, thanks to bringing partners on board early and maintaining close communication across the summer”.
What platforms did the campaign include and why?
“We are seeing audience consumption shifting and this also leans into British Gas’ own business transformation, increasingly driving sales or service bookings directly via their website and app. With this thinking in mind, we also made sure our owned platforms had a role to play, with users who followed our digital journeys (including our takeovers) able to find out more on our website”.
What are you most proud of with this campaign?
“The level of integration we managed to unlock with partners and the added impact this will have delivered for readers. We have delivered a real step change in how we partner with news brands and approach the development of integrated creative partnerships. It continues to underline how important it is for us to bring partners in early during the strategic development of campaigns to get to the richest ideas across all our partnership and content specialists”.
Did this campaign meet its objectives?
In the short term, we saw uplifts in the campaign performance, driving huge impact with takeovers and high impact digital placements. Outputs from RAM really underlined the strength of the campaign and why it was so worthwhile that we pushed for such integration:
85%
said the campaign stood out from other utility providers
73%
said ‘The Things’ campaign was more relatable
74%
said the print and digital ads complement each other
There was a 21% increase in perception that British Gas ‘does things differently’ among those who recalled the campaign compared with non-recallers, a result closely linked to the level of media integration achieved.
This is a long-term campaign and the success will be measured over the next six to 12 months based on non-customer consideration. Positively, RAM’s early indicators suggest that the campaign lays the foundation for sustained growth.
Among those who recalled the campaign:
60%
Among recallers, consideration increased by 60%
15%
Perceptions of British Gas as an innovative brand rose by 15%
15%
British Gas understands the needs of modern families increased by 15%
Brand perceptions of reliability also strengthened, up 6%.
*Results from post campaign analysis
Jo Mazenko, commercial director, Metro
What factors influenced the decision to place the ad in a specific section, page, or position within the newspaper?
“Given the scale of the launch — and the fact we were introducing a completely new creative platform with ‘The Things’ — this was never going to be a standard, one-off execution. The focus was on driving broad reach, while making sure the characters felt instantly recognisable and relatable. Mail Metro Media’s audience was a really strong fit, with a clear interest in energy and a higher likelihood to be considering switching providers, which gave us a solid starting point.
“From there, it was about building out a mix of integrated, context-led formats to create more meaningful engagement. We were really intentional with placement across Metro, matching different sections to the personalities of each character so the creative felt more natural, more relevant and ultimately more impactful.”.
Was the campaign tied to any particular moments or events, and how was that planned and timed?
“British Gas wanted to launch this new creative platform in a way that felt genuinely unmissable, so we centred the campaign around a high-impact, single-day takeover across multiple Mail Metro Media channels in May. Activity centred around 20th May, with a full Metro newspaper takeover, cover wrap, and a 360° digital takeover of Metro.co.uk, supported by activity on DailyMail.com in the lead-up. This allowed us to create real scale and presence across both print and digital at the same time.
“What made it particularly effective was the level of integration. We aligned the characters with relevant editorial environments and used standout formats — including a bespoke logo morph that saw ‘The Things’ take over the Metro masthead — to ensure the campaign couldn’t be missed. The takeover extended across our premium Apple News channel too, driving additional reach and cut-through on the day.
Beyond launch, the campaign continued to build momentum. Follow-up activity allowed us to deepen engagement, giving audiences more time to connect with the individual personalities of ‘The Things’ and bringing the platform to life in a more sustained way.”.
How did the booking process work for this campaign and what were the key considerations?
“All booking was through OMD, with the help of the partnerships, editorial and commercial editorial teams at Mail Metro Media and well as the client’s creative agency – T&Pm . British Gas was especially keen to pinpoint a tech-savvy audience, one which was also financially switched-on, and showing an interest in changing energy provider such as a high propensity to be looking to move home. Our portfolio ticked all of those planning boxes, and then some”.
Was the placement optimised for both print and digital audiences? If so, how?
“Yes — from the outset, the ambition was to use both print and digital in a way that maximised scale and drove real recognition for the new characters.
The takeover across Metro’s newspaper and digital platforms gave British Gas a broad, high-impact canvas, using a mix of disruptive formats designed to capture attention and cut through. It wasn’t just about reach, but about creating a sense of presence across multiple touchpoints.
Metro’s 360° offering made that possible. From contextually integrated print executions and unmissable cover wraps to a full digital takeover and 100% share of voice across Apple News, every element was designed to work together seamlessly.
The addition of a bespoke logo morph brought an extra layer of standout, ensuring the campaign felt truly ownable and left a lasting impression”.
How was the performance of the campaign monitored and what tools were used to measure the success?
“We carried out a detailed post-campaign analysis in partnership with RAM to understand the full impact of the launch.
The results were incredibly strong, with the campaign outperforming benchmarks across the board. We saw close to 50% recall and 85% of those exposed agreed it stood out compared to other energy providers.
Most importantly, it drove meaningful shifts in consideration — those who saw the campaign were 25 percentage points more likely to consider British Gas when reviewing their energy provider, which is ultimately where the real value lies.”.
What do you think makes this campaign stand out?
“This is a campaign we’re incredibly proud of — not just for the scale we achieved, but for how creatively and seamlessly everything came together.
At its core, it’s the combination of scale, creativity and contextual relevance that really makes it stand out. Anchoring the campaign around a single high-impact moment gave it real presence, while the personality of ‘The Things’ made the creative feel instantly relatable and engaging.
What we’re especially proud of is how closely we worked with our editorial teams to bring the campaign into context. It wasn’t just about visibility — it was about making the characters feel like a natural part of the environment.
Beyond the takeover, we built on that momentum with a series of reactive, integrated executions tied to key cultural moments, from Glastonbury to the Women’s Euros, keeping the campaign fresh, timely and engaging.
We also pushed the formats further than ever — creating bespoke, disruptive executions that really brought the characters to life. It’s a great example of what’s possible when you think more expansively about formats, context and collaboration to deliver something truly impactful.”.
British Gas was among the shortlisted entries in Newsworks Awards 2025.
