QualitySolicitors recruits in run-up to £15m ad campaign
Law firm network QualitySolicitors has announced the recruitment of two senior executives as it prepares a multi-million-pound ‘John Lewis-style’ television advertising campaign.
Lee Ellis, formerly head of commercial finance at retailer Halfords, has been appointed as finance director. Claire Smith (pictured), a former partner at national firm Pannone, where she ran the nationwide referral and support network Connect2Law, will join QS as partner firm director in March.
QS has appointed media agencies Mediacom and Team Saatchi to launch what it claims is the UK’s ‘largest ever legal services marketing campaign’.
The £15m campaign, funded by private equity house Palamon Capital Partners, which bought a majority stake in QS last October, will hit television screens in March.
QS chief executive Craig Holt said the campaign will put the group among the ‘most visible brands on TV’ with more than 90% of ABC1 consumers expected to see it. He told the Gazette that the minute-long prime-time advert drops the animated characters used in the previous campaign, in favour of a ‘John Lewis-style’ more ‘epic’ advert showing legal scenarios ‘in a non-cliched way’.
He said: ‘This advertising campaign will ensure we create widespread awareness of the QS brand among individuals and businesses, and communicate to them the reasons why they should use their local QS firm for their legal issues.’
Team Saatchi’s managing director Sophie Hooper told the Gazette: ‘We have analysed and researched what consumers really want from legal services and believe the sophisticated, yet client-focused, approach of the new campaign will make a huge impact.’
She said her brief was to create a ‘John Lewis style of advert in terms of professionalism combined with emotional engagement’.
Comments
Claire Smith
I wish Claire all the very best with this move. I worked with her for some time as my firm is a hub for Connect2Law and she was truly excellent. She will be a very considerable asset for QS who, in fairness, are clearly going from strength to strength since receiving their equity funding judging by this article. Good luck Claire!
I don't know Claire at all
I don't know Claire at all but I wish her good luck as well. She'll need it at QS (an acronym, somehow, for 'flash in the pan')!
I wondered why shelves were low at the supermarket
Well, there we gaps, where had all the shelf stackers gone to?
‘We have analysed and
‘We have analysed and researched what consumers really want from legal services .....'
But it often is not possible for a lawyer to give the client what they want. It is often part of the job to tell them they will not get what they want.
This is law through candy sweet glasses. Litigation is blood and gore.
Henry Ford
It is a cliche but the much quoted Henry Ford "if i'd asked my customers what they wanted, they would have asked for a faster horse". Good luck to Claire at Quality Solicitors to build her "faster horse".
£15m ad campaign
I bet they wish that other parts of the media were as generous with free advertising space as the Gazette.
HHJ Inglis
If those were the judge's findings, why didn't the judge do something about it himself?
What a waste of £15M
What a waste of £15M
£15M could have been spent on
£15M could have been spent on something more interesting
Um...some sanity?
I think this is interesting. People say £15m is a lot of money...that's what you pay to launch a serious consumer campaign, create a national brand.
But here are some of the things I think are the interesting questions,
- this could be defining for QS, from a positive and a negative viewpoint. If it flies then good for them I say, but if it doesn't the question, frankly, is "what next?"
- different entities have different ROI's. The ROI of the law firm may be very different to the ROI (including the 'when') of the investors. Some of these firms have invested a lot and will be wanting a return. I am assuming that at a £15m spend then a £25m return is needed, (not factoring in the added cost of pro quality leads etc that cost money to process)
Here is another angle from the normal QS bitch-fest...
- what if QS are 'MySpaced?' remember MySpace? They were the market leader, first adopter whatever you want to call it but they didn't listen to what their market wanted, they just thought they did. They didn't have the vision or innovation. They just thought they did. Fatal. Facebook built by listening to the market. The rest, as they say, is history. So do not discount this possible consequence as bigger brands are swarming and they know how to rapid market deployment and ownership.
So my concern/worry (for QS) would be around QS creating an awareness with this campaign, (along with Coop et al) that smart, nimble law firms could really exploit. This must be the gamble that QS and their exec have playing on their mind because getting to market is much quicker these days especially if someone is education it for you at their expense. Big may win, smart will. Relevant solutions to relevant problems delivered relevantly do...always.
The other interesting thing will be to see how QS deliver their service. Is it the 'as is' with a branding wrapper or is it truly innovative, turning the model upside down, pointing tech at the client?
Marketing is helpful and very necessary, but the cost of delivery is defining in the end because that is where margin sits.
Good luck to QS and all the others than continue to try and make legal services better.
Jon