Humour, catchy music, arresting visuals, and a strong, simple core message.

Mix drain maintenance with a pumping nightclub beat, and you’ve got yourself a memorable video.

Drainpro is a team of Melbourne-based drainage experts, covering a wide service area with a loyal base of customers.

After a history of smart and creative collabs, Drainpro challenged the SBM Video team to create something a little different: an outside-the-box video campaign that would break the mould of dull, ‘speaking-to-camera’ ads that are often seen in the trades industry.

They wanted a video ad that would appear completely out of place in the world of drain maintenance, grabbing the attention of their audience in the best possible way.

But who were their ideal audience?

To put things into perspective, here’s a stat: video marketers only have 2.7 seconds to gain the audience’s attention. 

Just to make things even more challenging than a three-second attention span: people often only call drain experts when something goes badly wrong, making split-second decisions instead of putting in extensive research. This makes brand awareness, recognition and loyalty difficult to cultivate.

Drainpro wanted to be front of mind for both businesses, governments and their local community.

The bottom line? An aggressive approach was critical. 

“We wanted to develop content that would be enjoyable to watch, regardless of whether or not you needed a drain serviced right now,” says Campbell Vandersluys, who produced and directed the video ad. “We chose to begin the video with a beat that gave everything the vibe of a music video, which would instantly capture the viewer’s imagination.”

The video ad concept combined a number of compelling elements: a rhythmic collection of drain-related sound bites, a memorable jingle, and a totally original video concept. This was especially designed to make waves in the world of trade service advertising, which usually has much dryer, more straight-laced messaging. 

The ad was designed to grab the audience’s attention with both sound and visuals, while the rhyme scheme cements the video in their memory and connects the advertisement to the brand.

Not only did Drainpro love the final video, but the stats showed that the audience were fully engaged as well.

Alongside some stellar statistics, one stood out: the completion rate. A hugely significant amount of people enjoyed watching the video right to the very end, an incredibly rare achievement for a YouTube ad with an enticing ‘Skip Ad’ button hovering in the corner.

The message was clear: the intrigue built up by the ad’s unique approach worked, connecting with audiences and keeping them watching by giving them something they didn’t expect.

What’s the Takeaway?

This campaign combined humour, intrigue and an irresistable core message into a 30-second presentation. 

The lessons that everyone can take away?

• Be Different. In an industry where loyalty can give way to a panicked Google search, taking an original and creative approach to advertising makes all the difference between being noticed and getting lost in the crowd. 
• Know the power of intrigue. Comedy and music were vital to the success of Drainpro’s video campaign, but the thing that kept so many people watching to the end was that sense of intrigue. The lack of dialogue, zero text and steadily building beat made people want to see more, which eventually led them to the core message and branding. You don’t need to give your audience everything they need in the first five seconds; take a bit of time to build suspense and interest.