Amid the seasonal detritus, some ads that make you sit up
So here we are, in that listless post-Christmas netherworld. The weather’s rubbish, the sales are too much like hard work, the tax return deadline can’t be put off much longer…and the ads are the usual December/January flotsam and jetsam: if you really want to buy a sofa on interest-free credit, start a yoghurt-flavoured diet or buy some perfume (too late, surely?) there’s stuff out there, otherwise it’s just wallpaper.
I’ve often wondered why more advertisers don’t go for something special during this time. After all, the airtime is cheaper and it’s much easier to stand out. Thank goodness then that a two-minute brand spectacular from Virgin Atlantic hits you like an electric shock.
Of course it’s all self-referential hokum, featuring uber-talented children who want to, as the ads say, “challenge the status quo and change lives for millions” – and go on to become, er, cabin crew. As you do.
In concept, it’s not a million miles away from BA’s ‘To fly, to serve’ – the message being that in a commoditised business like airlines it’s the staff that make the difference – but done with tongue firmly in cheek and lashings of vigour, panache, wit and colour.
You just know there’s something about BA’s corporate DNA which means it could never make an ad like that.
But could it only be Virgin? For a brief period (well, what couch potato really concentrates on the ads?), the flashes of red in the first 60 seconds made me think it was an ad about kids who want to be HSBC bank managers.
It seems that neither has won the battle to own the colour red, however many disparaging references Virgin makes to ‘bland and beige’ competitors (no prizes for guessing who those might be).
No matter. Virgin still owns the ‘challenger’ space, although how its putative new owner Delta will feel about such two-fingered attacks on its ilk, it’s hard to say.
I don’t know anyone who wakes up post-Christmas thinking ‘I must get my insurance sorted’, but there must be some who do, for how else to explain the glut of new insurance campaigns around this time of year from Aviva, Go Compare, Compare the Market and Moneysupermarket?
Aviva’s ‘when the big things in life happen, little things matter most‘ positioning seems to be trying to grab some of the life’s-crap-but-we’re-on-your-side territory vacated by Tesco. We speed through Paul Whitehouse’s life, but the most memorable bits are a car crash, a burglary and his cancer-ridden wife. It’s hardly uplifting, but that’s insurance for you.
Actually, that’s not the way the comparison sites go about it. In the agreeable world of MoneySupermarket, Alan saves £300 on insuring his family saloon, feels epic and blows the money on going into space. Same as usual then.
The same can’t be said of the new Compare the Market ad in which we are introduced to Maurice Wigglethorpe-Throom, CEO and founder of the comparison site, and his sidekick Spencer.
Played by Robert Webb of Peep Show fame, Maurice is styled as a time-warped Victorian-era insurance geek and entrepreneur. Alerted by Spencer to the activities of the meerkats, he explains the difference between the two sites. It’s perfectly watchable, but it ain’t the meerkats.
So what’s going on here? A new storyline is clearly on its way. But is Aleksandr history? Why, if Maurice is the founder of Compare the Market, are we only just meeting him? And why is the difference between Compare the Market and Compare the Meerkat being hammered home again?
Doesn’t everyone understand it?
There are at least two possible explanations here. One is that there is a residual hardcore group of consumers who, even after six years, remain confused. It seems unlikely, but there you go. The second is that someone thinks it’s time to move on from the meerkats.
It’s often true that agencies and clients get bored with their creative output well before the public does, or perhaps they think the meerkat story has run its course. Whatever, the public and the industry will be watching.
They’ll probably also be watching Go Compare closely to see whether the brand spokesman Gio Compario gets wiped out. He’s at risk from a specially-created ‘Black Hole’, designed by Stephen Hawking, to obliterate the irritating tenor.
My bet is he’ll survive. Irritation also equals memorability, and top-of-mind status is everything if you’re in the comparison site business. Besides, Gio has real ear-worm quality.
Data-type bloke takes over at media agency
And here’s one more January surprise: Tim Hipperson, lately of G2 Joshua, has been appointed CEO of Zenith Optimedia UK Group, taking over from Gerry Boyle who moves up to the next rung.
What’s unusual about this is that the media agency senior management merry-go-round normally comprises dyed-in-the-wool media folk. They hire from amongst their own. You can call this insular, or you can say it’s how the system works. After all, law firms are run by lawyers.
It’s hard to say exactly what G2 does, except that it’s into brand activation, data crunching and shoppers (I quote from its home page). Better to say that it’s at that nexus of digital and direct.
On his LinkedIn page Hipperson describes himself as an “integrated agency CEO and industry leader in data and technology-driven marketing.” Obviously he didn’t see the need to change that while applying for the job.
All media agencies acknowledge the importance data will have on their future. Few have someone with a data background right at the top. This is clearly a direction Zenith wishes to go. Let’s see if more follow suit.