For its first TV advertising campaign, designed to appeal to a new (see: young) audience, John Lewis Insurance has created a stop-motion ad with adam&eveDDB, tied together with a Vine video shorts competition.

Visitors to the campaigns microsite, which is nicely in-line with the traditional John Lewis branding, can see the TV ad, along with a ‘making of’ story, and are then challenged to make their own video using the Vine mobile app and the hashtag #WhatMattersMost. 

The best entries will be picked by adam&eveDDBs lead creatives, with John Lewis providing a first prize of £1000 worth of gift vouchers to the top video maker, along with a Cannon EOS 700D Digital SLR cameras for three weekly winners. The Vine competition concept was created by STEAK, John Lewis’ search agency since 2007, along with 360i.

“Alongside other social channels and rich media, we felt Vine offered a unique and innovative way to increase engagement and deepen the understanding of our campaign thought, if it matters to you it matters to us,” Keith Bibby, head of marketing at John Lewis Insurance told Mobile Marketing. “Mobile and Social are obviously important to a brand like John Lewis and in particular Financial Services, we need to ensure we are in a position to connect with customers in a way they choose.”

Brands as varied as Schuh, Dove and Ritz Crackers have already taken to the iOS and Android app Vine to help them appeal to an early adopter audience.