Habito: Mortgage challenger brand
Mortgages are a fairly traditional sort of thing. They have been around since the early days of the Building Societies in the 19th century in the UK, so it is especially pleasing to see a challenger brand emerge with such a strong creative advertising approach, say hello to Habito.
Habito are more than just an online price comparison site, they’ve built a real niche with a fully online broker offer, impartial and whole of market. They are a member of the Fintech 50 and extended their offer in July 2019 by becoming a lender themselves. All in all a real success story.
But our focus here is on their advertising and it is truly different and challenging. A direct competitor will be London and Country … here is their TV ad. They too are a national free advisor with an online and phone offer. This TV ad is well crafted, has a great voice-over from David Mitchell, the comedian, and its relaxed soothing and meant to reassure. It exudes an air of confidence. Target market ? Mainstream for sure.
Compare this then with the Habito TV ad …
Challenger territory alright:
1. Music for impact and designed to disrupt
2. Modern animation (think Futurama) talking to an audience that will ‘note the ad’ and like the creative
3. Standout, other than very early Webuyanycar.com ads, this is very unlike financial services advertising, it has punch!
4. Simple duality of message: Hell or Habito both positions Habito as hero and by default denigrates the competition at the same time
5. Fun, lets face it the ad series is enjoyable, and its rare to say that about Financial Services advertising
6. Target market – younger for sure and that is a good thing as it starts to build the audience for the life of their mortgages … 25 years has to start somewhere
7. The ads themselves feel fresh and feel right for a younger user, Generations Y, Z and into Millennials
8. Minimal copy … its basically a simple proposition matched beautifully to simple copy/script
I like the boldness, confidence and bravery of this ad series 10/10 from the Ad Critic. What do you think … Hell? or Habito?
28th Jan 2020
Ad critic 
Oh I am so not the target market for these ads (despite watching very similar cartoons with my 16 year old, it actually offends my sensibilities and I switch it off). Putting my age aside I love how different it is and it gives me hope that the mystery of finance can be untangled and become clearer. From credit cards to overdrafts we have to get a better understanding of finance and its pitfalls out there.
The simplicity message is crucial to engagement I think and this is definitely not aimed at me either !! Lovely bold creative though. P