So unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few weeks, there’s been a lot of talk about swine flu.
Whilst you’d think Mexico is probably the hottest bed of press activity, I’d say HK and Singapore would give them a good run for their money.
It all stems back to the SARS crisis a few years ago and how it adversely affected the respective countries reputation both economically and organisationally … which is possibly why their reaction to the situation has been slightly over-the-top to say the least.
Just last week I had a pitch in HK where the client wore a surgical mask throughout the entire presentation.
You try and pay attention to what’s going on when you’ve got Dr Dick Turpin’s eyes staring right back at you.
Seriously, everytime he asked a question I must of said, “I beg your pardon” about 500 times … it was ridiculous.
But as usual, Singapore could trump it.
Despite there being NO confirmed swine flu cases when I was there, I was still asked to provide written evidence of my last 7 days travels before I would be allowed into my meeting … a meeting I had been asked to attend by a client and had to fly over 3 hours to get there.
When the receptionist saw I had previously been in China and HK there was almost a stampede to the bloody Doctors …
Now don’t get me wrong, I know how serious this ‘flu’ can be … but this all seems abit of an overkill … but then, compared to the Singaporean Uni that has MANDATED all students have to take their temperature twice a day and record the results on an electronic database [worse: they all have to have their own thermometer and if they cannot provide it when asked by a teacher, they will get sent home] I suppose I got off lightly.
I guess advertising strategy is quite like Government attitude in so much as both seem to follow the belief that a public in panic is a public you can control and manipulate …
Buy this and be successful with the opposite sex.
Stop being inquisitive or you might get murdered or raped.
Spray this and you won’t be a social leper.
Invest in that and you’ll be successful and a pillar of society.
Of course it doesn’t have to be this way.
One thing I still find amazing is that even now, some people talk about Obama’s ‘media election strategy’ as if that was the only reason he became President.
Of course it played an important part, but like many in media planning companies forget, what you say and how you say it is just as important.
Obama could of gone with political cliché and focused on fear … hell, he’d of been justified given the state the World was/is in right now … but instead he offered an alternative to ‘fear control’, he offered people the power of hope so that regardless of race, sex, age, wealth or culture, they could believe that together they could create a better life for themselves, their communities and their country.
Yeah … yeah … I know he’s actually got to do it rather than just talk about it and without doubt, it’s going to be tough given the pedestal people have put him on – but he’s making some of the tough decisions … he’s talked about how it will probably get worse before it gets better … he talked about the need to think interms of ‘we’ not just ‘me’ … he’s acknowledged the need to talk ‘future’ not just today … and whilst anyone could say they are easy words and an obvious strategy for a country that was/is on its knees, you think how many brands or Governments talk in those terms, or at least talk about it without sounding contrived or worse, unbelievably delusional.
NEW SUNNY DISHWASH FLUID MAKES ALL YOUR DAYS SMELL BRIGHT.
Give me a fucking break.
As much as I wish the days of false promises in advertising were over … I genuinely believe we are heading to a period where brands are starting to appreciate the importance of creating proof rather than creating ads … and whilst ‘fear’ may seem the most effective method to drive action, if companies and Governments started to look beyond the next quarter or local election, they may see they are capable of amazing things and that people may actually want to help them in their goals.
I’ve said it many times that adland should be more like the manufacturing industry – CREATE stuff, of which ‘ads’ are just a part – but for all the rhetoric spouted by multinational agencies and clients about wanting to do ‘new things’, the reality is still they remain firmly entrenched in doing what they know rather than embrace what they know but just can’t fathom how to do.
One of the best lines I’ve ever heard to get these sort of people to starting acting rather than just talking is simply: “What do you want your legacy to be?” … and whilst I accept that’s unlikely to change their decades of inaction, I doubt they would answer “I helped increase Pantene’s gain 2 percentage points of marketshare over the 07-08 financial period” and if they did, then we should do them – and us a favour – by shooting them dead in the head.
Contrary to belief there’s no magic process or proprietary tool that can make this sort of thing happen … at its core it’s about individuals attitude, desire and belief – the other stuff comes later – so if you don’t like something or simply want to change something, then do something about it because as much as people say there’s ‘wisdom in crowds’, there’s also lethargy.