UK’S Number One Family History Website Launches First Brand Television Advertising Campaign

Ancestry.co.uk, ranked the UK’s Number One Lifestyle-Family website* by Hitwise, will launch its first television advertising campaign, airing from mid-September.

Earlier this year, Ancestry selected Hurrell, Moseley, Dawson & Grimmer (HMDG) to overhaul the brands online and offline campaigns, including all TV advertising.

HMDG has developed the new television campaign to target the core Ancestry.co.uk audience- ABC1 adults aged 45+. The creative will also be used in online and offline in print campaigns.

The 30 second brand ad, which will air on a mix of terrestrial and satellite stations from September 14, is designed to build awareness and consideration of the Ancestry.co.uk brand within its target demographic. Media buying is being handled by Brilliant.

The ad is built around a ‘then and now’ scenario, depicting people in period dress waiting in modern day settings to be found by their living descendants.

Ancestry.co.uk Managing Director Olivier Van Calster comments: “We have now reached the right time in the growth of our business to introduce TV-led brand advertising.

“We are confident that it is the correct media through which to build our brand and business, and especially given that the UK has been the pioneer of fact-based family history television content with programmes such as the internationally franchised ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’, now in its sixth year and a strong reminder of the ongoing interest in UK family history.”

The UK family history website has grown its subscriber base to more than 200,000 since 2004, making it one of the largest online subscription businesses in the UK.

The Ancestry network of nine family history websites offers members access to four billion family history records and an online community of over one million people actively researching their family history.