UK flag US flag FR flag
| |

Duping or charming; what’s the future for print advertising?

Duping or charming; what’s the future for print advertising?

Enough is enough. It’s time to challenge the current mode of thinking, writes John Lowery

Last month I picked my copy of The Guardian, once again ruing its physical diminishment. Having read the ink off the sports section, I pulled open the plastic bag containing the Weekend magazine and was confronted by a ‘cover wrap’ paid for by the University of Liverpool promoting their online courses.

The splashed headline read “How can spending more time online be good for you?”

The Guardian had allowed its fonts to be used, meaning that, for a fraction of a second, I thought I was looking at editorial content. And then I noticed the hazard warning – ‘Advertisement’ – written (also in The Guardian’s font) in the top left-hand corner.

I felt duped and I resented the duper. I tore it off and chucked it in the recycling.

A little while later, however, a combination of sadness and anger caused me to root it from the bin.

I was sad that the paper’s diminishment extended beyond the physical to its preparedness to prostitute itself. And angry that the kerb-crawling University of Liverpool would pay for its services.
[advert position=”left”]
On the inside of the wrap was a series of mugshots of alumni singing the praises of the course; a sales pitch that looked and read as though a partially sighted chimp with a brain injury had been employed as the creative director.

I wondered if said chimp had garnered its qualifications at the University of Liverpool on or offline.

Either way, the University of Liverpool came across as little more than a spiv sidling up to you in Chatuchak market offering a ‘genuine’ Rolex Submariner for 3,000 Baht… “Look it says ‘Made in Swizz’ on the back.”

There is, of course, nothing particularly new about this phenomenon. Remember the furore when The Times clothed itself in a Microsoft wrap? It seems, however, that there are now almost no limits to the preparedness of editorial and advertisers to brazenly consort with one another.

“Why have we reached this point?”, I asked a media planner whom I know peddles this sort of media solution to clients that ought to care more about their repute.

She shrugged her shoulders and said, “The papers are all on the verge of going bust and people don’t like adverts”.

It’s easy, albeit distressing, to have sympathy with the first part of her reply but the second part could surely be challenged, so I flicked through the magazine in search of an advert I liked. To no avail.

There was no charmingly written and beautifully art directed double-page BMW ad, advocating the benefits of their 6-cylinder engine.

Instead there was a Toyota ad using their status as official partner of the Winter Paralympics, urging ‘Start Your Impossible’. Doesn’t that sound bit like the battery’s gone flat? It certainly has in the agency’s creative department.

There was no welcome to the gentlemen.

Instead there was a Nourkrin advert asking if I was struggling with thinning hair. I am but the fact of their Gold Medal at the World Trichology Society, certification by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners and endorsement by the Hair University of Kentucky (I’m not making this up) didn’t convince me to phone the 0845 number… 44pence/minute on my mobile contract.

There was no double-page spread for Sainsbury’s Claret enticing me to trade up from a house to a château.

Instead an advert for Lidl flogging a bunch of flowers – the chimp seemed to have been at work again, as they looked more like an emetic emission than a Mother’s Day gift – and another for Aldi’s 90 litre capacity garden waste incinerator £14.99, each. Thanks for that qualification Aldi, I’d assumed it was for a half-dozen into which I could have stuffed your adverts.

It seems, then, that the second part of the media planner’s contention was also correct. Or at least correct now…I hope I’ve demonstrated that this wasn’t always the case.

So, what’s the answer? Is it to attempt to dupe the consumer, with the attendant risk of alienating them? Or is it to return to a world of charming them, flattering their intelligence and appealing to their aesthetic sensibilities?

In the event that you favour the latter, the guy who wrote the ad below (Tony Brignull) can sometimes be tempted out of retirement, provided you’re charming.

John Lowery is a marketing consultant who has worked both agency and client side

His most recent, contribution to the world of marketing was the strategy that yielded the #LidlSurprises campaign

JohnLowery, n/a, n/a, on 18 Apr 2018
“Vanessa Clifford,

I think you’ve got me a bit wrong. I love newspapers. I started reading The Guardian when I started reading – my parents bought it – and I’ve read it almost every day since. And I’ve spent a lot of my time in advertising trying to help creative people produce press ads that make a difference to brands, over and above flogging incinerators. So, I guess I’m more or less on your side, but...

I didn’t say all ads in the 60s, 70s and 80s were great – of course there was plenty of dross but my experience as a professional (if I may be so bold) and as a consumer of newspapers tells me that the great ads are now as rare as a hen’s teeth.

I looked at the Kronenbourg ads and I defy you to find one person who thinks they’re as good Stella Artois' Reassuringly Expensive ' 'My shout. He whispered.' I’m pretty sure I could spend the rest of my life looking through The Guardian Weekend magazine and the rest of the paper (I will do, as I continue to buy it every day) and struggle to find one ad or, for that matter, advertorial that matches that. In the 80s and 90s these ads were commonplace.

Nor did I say that the newspapers were going bust. As I stated, it was a media planner. Moreover, correct her if she's wrong, but when I last looked, the Guardian Media Group wasn’t profitable. (Maybe I won't read it for the rest of my life because it will expire before I do.)

In the meantime, may I correct you. You have falsely conflated my point with creepy ads following people around on the internet. I agree. They're creepy but that doesn't have anything to do with the lack of creativity in press advertising. (OK, maybe it does but the line of dots would require an MBA student to join them up.)

You berate me for a lack of facts. Do you have any that support for your contention that “people don’t dislike ads – at least no more than they’ve ever done”? I have data that show that people do dislike TV ads a lot more than previously but rather than falsely conflate I’ll save that for another article.

With respect to that Wonderbra ad; I’ve always thought was a brilliant piss-take of men's aspirations to find themselves in bed with a supermodel. But even if you don't read it that way - are we heading to a world where the history of advertising is erased? At the time it was universally acclaimed. In 2011, it was voted the greatest poster of all time. (10,000 people voted. Not all men.) It ran in the press too. I don’t remember any journals refusing to take the advertiser’s money at the time.

One last thing, it's an opinion piece. I thought those were supposed to be written by ‘a sample of one’ person with an opinion be they women or men.

Best Regards,

John Lowery”
DaveDye, Creative Bod, Thingy, on 17 Apr 2018
“Hey Vanessa,
Full disclosure;
a) I love newspaper advertising.
b) I used to work with John.
c) I’m a creative.
I realise it’s part of your job at Newsworks to try and squash these apparent press advertising naysayers.
But I thought it was a positive, call to arms type piece.
I don’t know anyone who thinks that print advertising is thriving and as as good creatively as it’s ever been.
I wish that newspaper advertising still had the reach, clout and creativity it once had.
But, as you say, the world has changed.
As readership of printed newspapers has gone down so have the page rates, it’s meant that agencies allocate less thinking time and clients allocate smaller creative budgets.
It’s possible to produce a great idea quickly, but rare.
Big creative budgets are no guarantee of quality, but it does help if you can shoot on location rather than comp together two stock shots together.
Or use a world-class fashion photographer rather than the bloke with a camera in the basement.
Or have a budget to create a bespoke image rather than be creative with type because there’s no extra cost.
It allows people to think up a wider range of solutions, to be more creative.
I genuinely wish you well at Newsworks Vanessa, it’s a great cause.
I now need to reply to someone from Swindon who thinks VHS tapes are being unfairly overlooked by millennials.

Best,
Dave
p.s. If you knew John you’d realise he’s actually quite nice. ‘Quite’ not ‘very’.”
VanessaClifford, CEO, Newsworks, on 13 Apr 2018
“Oh the irony of a piece encouraging us to challenge the current mode of thinking which is not only incredibly backward looking, but filled with tired assumptions.

First of all, I feel sorry for the clients of the planner who is so out of touch with the facts that they spout such ill-informed opinion. Funnily enough, newspapers are not on the verge of going bust. In fact, quite the opposite – they are, in the main, profitable businesses and across the board their cross platform readership numbers are at an all-time high. And no, people don’t dislike ads – at least no more than they’ve ever done. What they don’t like are ads that follow them around the web, targeting them so tightly and repetitively that it borders on the creepy.

Moving on. Besides the fact that John’s article is built on a complete sample of one (one man, referring to one edition of a newspaper), surely it should go without saying that there have always been different types of ads in papers: long-copy, price-based, wraps, advertorials... What doesn’t add up is comparing award-winning creatives from years ago with what happened to be in front of him when he opened that newspaper a month ago.

I hate to break the rose-tinted illusion John, but even back in the 60s, 70s and 80s the papers, like all media, weren’t full of stunning creative. What’s more, newspapers today offer advertisers a wealth of dynamic and innovative ad solutions, as well as a brand safe environment (not to be sneered at in today’s climate). Whether it’s KFC’s brilliant long-copy print ad, a topical and relevant campaign such as Kronenbourg’s Evening Standard activity, or an integrated, cross-platform brand partnership like the NSPCC’s ‘Little Stars’ work, there is a lot of great advertising going on. Perhaps it just doesn’t fit the mould of 30 years ago.

Finally, if there is no “welcome to the gentlemen” when you open your morning paper John, all I can say is thank god. Some ads are a product of their time and in a post lad-mag era where movements such as #MeToo are gaining much deserved ground, haven’t we moved on?”

Media Jobs