Karl Zenterr (his name is a play on the words ‘call centre’) is a daft but lovable yoga teacher who will help people ‘Namaste on hold for as long as (they) need to’. He is played by Anton Taylor, from Tali’s Baby Diary and Jozi Shore, and who is known for his hilarious Instagram skits.
Taylor, who teaches a yoga class at a studio in Cape Town, embodies the character with his reinterpretations of classic yoga poses into On Hold Yoga poses, including an impressive headstand with his phone leaning awkwardly up against his face.
The ad is a faux infomercial for Zenterr’s On Hold Yoga series, a yoga course specifically designed for when people spend hours on hold with their insurance company call centre. The poses feature Zenterr strangely holding the phone between his feet, or balanced against his face, and in the background, you can hear the ‘soothing sounds’ of the call centre hold music.
The campaign is a follow-up to Naked’s successful #StopHoldMusic digital marketing campaign, which imagines a world where call centre hold music is a much-loved genre, with music festivals (‘HoldFest’), radio stations (‘HoldFM’) and compilation albums of call centre hold music hits (‘Now That’s What I Call Hold Music’).
‘Like the #StopHoldMusic campaign, the On Hold Yoga campaign showcases how we’re different to the traditional insurance company,’ said Naked co-founder, Ernest North. ‘We may take a humorous angle on the frustrations of waiting on hold for a call centre agent, but we are serious about making the insurance experience as easy and convenient as possible for our customers.’
The campaign kicked off with cryptic teasers, where Taylor posted daily inspirational content to his personal Instagram account in character as Zenterr. The daily posts were oddly phone call-themed, motivational messages, for example, ‘Maybe the reason your insurance company keeps you on hold, is because deep down they know that you… just want to be held.’
Taylor’s fans were bemused by the content, which intentionally did not mention the Naked brand or the upcoming ad campaign launch. See the content here.
NAKED INSURANCE
https://www.naked.insure/
