New campaign dresses up Johnny as Capital entertainer

by Daniel Farey-Jones,, Brand Republic 04-Feb-05, 11:00

LONDON – Capital 95.8FM's new TV spot for Johnny Vaughan's breakfast show breaks today during 'The Simpsons' on Channel 4, with DLKW building on the singing and dancing launch campaign by putting Vaughan in drag.

Vaughan again dances through the streets of London, but this time the soundtrack is an adapted version of Marvin Gaye's 'Dancing in the Street', with the lyrics rewritten as 'Waking up Your Street'.

He dresses up as a range of characters, from Shirley Temple to catsuited Justin Hawkins from rock group The Darkness, to a 'Little Britain'-style "laydee" cyclist.

Other members of the breakfast show including new co-host Zoe Hanson, replacing co-Becky Jago, and sidekick "Welsh" appear in the ad.

The campaign also uses print to show that Vaughan's show will appeal to a mix of people. With a tagline of "Breakfast with Johnny. Everyone's invited", the ads show Vaughan in various guises sitting around a breakfast table with a range of listeners.

Carl Lyons, marketing director for Capital 95.8FM, said "It's a feelgood ad showing sides of Johnny some people might not be aware of -- that he's great at doing voices and quite happy to get into different characters and not take himself too seriously. He was as happy dressing up as Shirley Temple as he was Justin Hawkins."

Media planning and buying was handled by ZenithOptimedia.

If the campaign succeeds in attracting new listeners it could take Capital's breakfast show back to the levels of popularity it had under previous host Chris Tarrant. In his final set of Rajars, Tarrant pulled in 1.38m listeners, a total which dipped after Vaughan took over in April 2004 but climbed over the last quarter from 1.05m to 1.13m.

Rival Heart FM has recruited Jamie Theakston to its breakfast show to go up against Vaughan from Easter.

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