Arnold on ethical marketing

CHRIS ARNOLD

I think vox pops have a place in research and for new business presentations but I hate them as ads. Especially when they are used as cheap ads. I haven’t seen the new KFC ads that are shot in store but I’d guess as they are BBH they’ll look great. But those NatWest ads are like a bad corporate video. As a long time NatWest customer they even put me off (and most of my friends). The ads are full of salesmen suited up and just waiting to cross sell. The ads certainly don’t make me feel like I want to be with them. By contrast my bank manager is really sweet and doesn’t look like an insurance salesman. If they are trying to make the band look friendly it doesn’t work for me.

I think clients think that real people ads make ads look honest. The problem is they always look like actors or idiots. And both leave you feeling sold at. It’s true that people buy from people but as soon as people appear in ads they seem untrustworthy. Research in the States gave advertising a trust factor of just 17%. More shocking are green ads that came in at just 14%.

Over the last few nights I’ve noticed more and more cheap looking ads. There may be  a recession on but cutting corner on your ad is a false economy. These kind of ads just make brands look bad. Is it any wonder people watch less TV ads? It seems the best ads about are the spoof ones. Check out a brilliant Australian series called the Gruen Transfer on YouTube. It’s a big hit in Oz and makes Tarrant on TV look mild. One of my favourite is selling the positive side of climate change and another, invade New Zealand is brilliant.

I read a forum on Brand Republic on how one agency was facing a big legal claim for nicking an idea (it’s since been settled out of court). The issue of who owns an idea is a serious one for our industry as there are plenty of people who want to make a few bucks out of us. Of course art, music and design has always borrowed and adapted what’s gone before. Where would Oasis be without the Beatles? But it’s unethical to just steal an idea and claim it as yours. An issue I took up with D&AD many years ago when I suggested that ‘adapted ideas’ should always credit the original author, at the time endless gags from comedy programmes were ending up as TV ads.

Creative Orchestra is only two weeks old and one of the first campaigns presented to one of our clients, an amazing dyslexia charity called Xtraordinary People, uses an adaption of a well know ad campaign. It’s one of those ideas that takes a brilliant idea another stage on. If it runs and wins awards then I would automatically credit the original authors. It’s the same as taking a famous song and even though you re-record it in a new musical style you’d always credit the original writers.

I fear that YouTube has made some people lazy and rather than invent new ideas they search for them online. There’s one legal case going on where one young team did just that. Made the commercial, got another job and left the agency with a big legal bill. I’ve watched several YouTube films recently that were used for ads. But what YouTube does prove is that the general public can be just as creative as us, and sometimes even more creative?

This week for a bit of fun and as an exercise in getting back to the streets Creative Orchestra set up a mobile creative lounge (complete with carpets and cushions) on the Circle Line – renamed the Creative Line for that day. Engaging with real people is something I recommend. While some of the creatives worked on a brief for Channel 4 others challenged the public to think creative. A simple exercise using 4 pieces of wire that you have to turn into six had even a surveyor who declared he was uncreative soon cracking it (trick is to get them to visualise six). The joy of seeing people be creative is very rewarding. But equally amazing was the fact they managed to go around the circle line so many times with no security throwing them off.

The joy of creativity was the theme of a talk I gave at a gathering of the Ideas Foundation on Monday evening at Engine to new mentors. The IF is a brilliant venture that helps encourage school kids to be more creative and discover the creative industries. If you haven’t discovered it find the website and read up on and if you want to be a mentor contact them. And if you are in the mentor frame of mind, the School of communication Arts will be relaunching next year thanks to Marc Lewis.

As a sign off, despite the recession, as an industry I believe we have to invest in the next generation of talent and as agencies encourage clients to value talent rather than time. The recession will challenge us to change, which can be a good thing. This quote from Einstein I think is very relevant.

“Let's not pretend that things will change if we keep doing the same things. A crisis can be a real blessing to any person, to any nation. For all crises bring progress. Creativity is born from anguish, just like the day is born form the dark night. It's in crisis that inventive is born, as well as discoveries, and big strategies. Who overcomes crisis, overcomes himself, without getting overcome. Who blames his failure to a crisis neglects his own talent, and is more respectful to problems than to solutions. Incompetence is the true crisis.
The greatest inconvenience of people and nations is the laziness with which they attempt to find the solutions to their problems. There's no challenge without a crisis. Without challenges, life becomes a routine, a slow agony. There’s no merit without crisis. It's in the crisis where we can show the very best in us. Without a crisis, any wind becomes a tender touch. To speak about a crisis is to promote it. Not to speak about it is to exalt conformism. Let us work hard instead. Let us stop, once and for all, the menacing crisis that represents the tragedy of not being willing to overcome it.”

Albert Einstein.