Over its 145-year-old history, ADT has developed an entrenched reputation as a home-security provider. But the company also offers other products, from smart-home integration to mobile security options for small and large businesses, and there consumer awareness is lagging.
So as the space grows more competitive, the company is setting out to change that narrative with its first campaign created by its new in-house team and agency-of-record McCann Worldgroup.
ADT Chief Marketing Officer Jochen Koedijk calls the effort a “total brand transformation.” The campaign, which launches August 23, includes TV, social and out-of-home ads; a redesigned website with an interactive component; and an internal branding update.
“The brand transformation is about moving ADT from a home-security provider to a human-protection platform,” says Koedijk. “People trust us and see us as reliable and the authority on safety and security, but [on] the flip side of that, many people still perceive us as a home-security provider, and we’re a lot more than that.”
The campaign, called “We Are What We Protect,” asks people: “What do you want to protect?” The premise, Koedijk says, is to show people that ADT can protect whatever someone might value, even outside the home.
“We want people to realize, however you answer that question, that no one besides ADT has more ways of protecting that,” says Koedijk. “It opens up the conversation and makes them think of ADT as being more than just an alarm system.”
In a 60-second TV spot, ADT shows people with the passions they want to protect and a search bar where these passions are typed out. One couple is shown in front of a house with the search bar reading: “My tiny house.” Another scene shows a baker preparing cupcakes with the search bar reading: “My life’s work.”