no fun for swiftcover
Interested to read that the ASA have given the Metallic K.O. to Swiftcover’s ‘Get a life’ car insurance ads featuring godfather of punk, Iggy Pop.
Whoever The Idiot was that said Blah Blah Blah to the clause in the insurers policies that stated driver cover was NOT available to drivers in the entertainment business was certainly a Naughty Little Doggie.
Swift cover have now been forced to Search and Destroy all the ad material. The creative director responsible has been told ‘Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell’.
On the upside, Swiftcover have subsequently implemented some New Values which now allow the insuring of musicians. The Stooges in the product development department can now Soldier on and no-one is going to Beat ‘Em Up.
You see what I did there? <= that’s plenty - Editor’s voice
It’s not online or offline – it’s life
I’ve been reading many articles of late where online bashes offline and vice-versa. Be it paper based periodicals espousing the benefits of the press ad experience over the web, or internet media peeps squeaking on about the death of TV (again). I just want to say ‘Stop that and put your teddies down!’
Whilst I understand the temptation in these dark times of shrinking budgets, a knee jerk reaction may be to retrench, declare your stand and lob insults at your supposed ‘opposition’. But this thinking won’t get us, the client or the industry anywhere.
Now (particularly now) in these doom-riddled days, we should be offering value to our clients – suggesting holistic campaigns built around our audience to make every penny go further. Added value, with thinking recognising that people don’t see on or offline or know the meaning of ‘media channel’ but simply have a life.
By drawing together the threads of peoples lives, we stand a better chance of identifying new ways to engage and begin a conversation. It’s all about real people after all – people who enjoy meaningful conversations, be that on the phone, on the ‘net or in the pub. That’s conversations, con as in from the latin for ‘with’ and that means talking ‘with’, not ‘at’ people.
This calls for a change of model. We should eject anyone who justifies a brief with the words ‘Well that’s what we did last year’. Now is the time to make changes – evaluate the business requirements that kick-started the brief and look to a bigger picture on how to solve it. This not only has a good chance of making you and the client stand out from the crowd but may help your budget stretch a bit further. In cash-strapped times it is only innovative thinking that will get us out – and isn’t that what we’re paid for? Agencies and brands that are brave in these times will be leaps and bounds ahead when the country finally staggers to it’s feet.
Our thinking has to be people first, channel and media second – using each channel for precisely what they’re good at (so no mis-placed budgets or wasted pennies) and altering the message appropriately. We’ve all heard how it’s ‘all about the people’ now, most assume this means the end of ‘push’ media – but (as the song goes) that ain’t necessarily so. If we understand the differences and benefits of say, reading a paper and encountering an ad or receiving an email from a trusted company or a friendly face giving you freebies on the street – and deploy them according to the needs of the brief then all media has it’s place in the journey. Some may not be as relevant to the particular people we are speaking to at this time, others may be more and so spend can be thus divided. The point being it’s built around the people and our best opportunities to ask them to think and then do something connected with our brands. Then we’re really talking engagement – and not just from a brand to audience perspective but also how exciting it would be to have a brand that’s alive and fed by the people who are involved with it. Helping to guide and shape it - even to new product developments. Now we’re really getting engaging!
The key take-out is whilst the ways of talking have become many and varied, it’s still people we’re talking with. Put them at the heart of your brief and your choice of channels becomes clearer and your messages may begin to resonate more loudly – pushed ever onward by a group of truly engaged people.
Becky McOwen-Wilson
Creative Director
Geronimo