Background

The British Government's Ministry of Defence - and the RAF - needed to choose a 'Beyond Visual Range' missile for the Eurofighter., Europe's newest combat aircraft shortly to enter service.

The choice had been whittled down to Raytheon and a European consortium led by MBDA, of which the British partner was BAE SYSTEMS.

Because this was a straight choice between America and Europe, it had become clear that the final choice was going to be a political one - made in fact in Downing Street.

The competition had become pretty intense - with personal lobbying being carried at the highest levels of government in the USA and the UK.

There was a concern that Meteor was 'losing the argument' within the small group of people who would be involved in the final decision.

A decision was taken to use advertising to raise the level of the debate in a wider forum, not just to put forward the case for Meteor, but to make the final choice in favour of Meteor a 'no-brainer'.

Solution

The Square recommended a high-impact, short term campaign using black and white pages in the daily broadsheet newspapers.

The creative executions were deliberately punchy and controversial, designed to be read and understood at any level. The campaign was also designed to be picked up by the media and featured in further editorial comment.

Results

The campaign excited a lot of comment within the media who ran several stories about the ads, not just in the press, but also on radio and television.

The advertising campaign played its part in the overall campaign and The British Government subsequently selected Meteor to be the BVR missile on Eurofighter.