Ambition: Sage Brand Advertising Campaign (2018)

Celebrity endorsements run the risk of ringing false. But how could we resist celebrity entrepreneur Peter Jones, a lifelong Sage customer?

Sage has a strong market perception in the UK for ‘on-premise’ desktop accounting software in the small business sector – but the trend like most software markets, is moving rapidly to cloud based solutions. The big idea was to use a genuine Sage customer who had fame and credibility. Step forward, Peter Jones, TV’s Dragon’s Den entrepreneur who has used Sage products since the very beginning of his career at only 19. Peter has been a lifelong Sage customer and continues to use its products to manage his international empire of over 40 businesses.

The story we told across TV, radio and digital is how Peter Jones realised his personal ambition with Sage – and why he believes ambition is the fuel that feeds the flame of British entrepreneurship. We featured three other businesses, small & large, and how Sage has played its part in their success. It was more than just a campaign; it was about motivating British business against a backdrop of business uncertainty and change.

OUTCOME: The “Ambition” campaign generated a number of firsts for Sage; from becoming the most commercially successful campaign in the company’s history; to setting daily and weekly records for the number of leads and sales. A UK audience of 15.3m was reached, driving 31% growth in Sage.com traffic and achieving the best commercial performance ever experienced by Sage in its 38 years’ existence – resulting in a 55% increase in web conversions over the previous best brand campaign and a 29% daily increase in qualified leads.