This pair of ten-second slots target the paperwork and stress of completing the mortgage and remortgage process respectively, depicting characters being overwhelmed by the situation.
Habito’s last advert (pictured) drew the ire of one broker, who complained to the advice firm and advertising regulator the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) about it denigrating the advice industry.
Eltham-based adviser Tony Joannou, managing director at Money Sage, told Mortgage Solutions he was “shocked and angry” at the firm targeting the whole mortgage advice market.
Habito founder and CEO Daniel Hegarty said the firm had never planned to denigrate the reputation of other mortgage brokers.
Hegarty noted that it wanted to dramatise the fact that for “many, many people, the experience of getting a mortgage can be hellish.”
In total the ASA received 26 complaints about the ‘Hell or Habito’ ad with the mortgage broker search term, but Joannou’s was the only complaint about its anti-competitive nature.
However, the regulator was not convinced by the complaints and decided not to take any further action.
‘Deliberately irreverent’
The newest adverts once again include the broker firm’s “Hell or Habito” slogan and feature bold, colourful scenes.
Chief marketing officer Abba Newbery said: “Our ads are deliberately colourful, playful and irreverent.
“But while the scenarios are heavily dramatised they reflect an all-too real truth: that people find the process of getting a mortgage utterly hellish.”
The third and fourth adverts in the series can be viewed on Youtube.
