14th July 1998
Thomson Directories has launched a national TV campaign featuring a contemporary, blue version of its popular Thomson cat. This coincides with a major redesign of its corporate identity and products which will now include the blue cat icon.

Research shows that "Thomson", the cartoon cat who made his last appearance in 1990, is still remembered by half of all adults. The new advertisement features a real cat who has been digitally retouched to appear in the famous Thomson blue.

The cat morphs out of the directory and continues to move through a series of scenes that convey both the range of services and suppliers in the directory and the ease of finding them. The backing track is "You showed me" by The Lightning Seeds.

The campaign has been created by advertising agency Barnett Williams Partnership (BWP) and the first phase breaks on July 13 with an initial £3m media spend. Media buying has been handled by The Media Shop.

According to Kendall Gordon, senior marketing manager at Thomson Directories: "We have a tremendous amount of equity in both the colour blue and the cat. In this campaign we have brought these together in a way that underlines Thomson's innovative and forward thinking approach. Research indicates that the advertisement will be valued equally by both directory users and directory advertisers. Research also indicates that consumers see the cat as a relevant symbol for local knowledge".

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