‘Real’ People Come Out On Top In Recent Ad Survey

Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera may have signed record-breaking ad deals last month but it was real people who came out on top in a recent ad chart. In Propeller’s “Ads That Make News” survey Halifax’s campaign featuring members of its own staff achieved more picture stories in the national press than any other advertiser during the first quarter of 2001.

The story of how Halifax employees such as Howard Brown, manager of the Sheldon branch, became the bank’s latest 60-second commercial was given column inches in both the tabloids and broadsheets. Pepsi and Coke were relegated to joint second place as details of their multi-million dollar contracts with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera made the news.

“While two pop queens going head to head in advertising the world’s biggest brands of soft drinks is guaranteed to create headlines, ‘real’ people in the media are now capturing the public’s imagination in the same way that we have seen on TV with the success of Big Brother and various docu-soap programmes,” said Nick Fitzherbert, director of Propeller Marketing Communications.

The most ad-friendly newspapers were the Evening Standard and the Daily Express, followed by the Guardian.

Propeller Marketing: 020 7636 6300