Tent-pole TV: Co-op vs BrewDog; and ‘dangerous’ media research
Three-in-one: the Co-op’s latest ad, by Lucky Generals
The Co-op and BrewDog are deploying rather ‘old-fashioned’ campaigns, writes Dominic Mills – and delivering real purpose in the process. Plus: the perils of being a media lab rat.
Hopping around the industry as I do, I’ve had lots of conversations recently about what can be classified and summarised as ‘tent-pole’ advertising — essentially the big idea that holds a campaign up, and which guides all other activity.
Sir Martin Sorrell, for one, thinks it’s passed its sell-by date — perhaps that is because he is now selling something different. He is not alone, including many who think the future of TV is tactical. But there are plenty who disagree.
This week, in a new, linked campaign by Lucky Generals for its supermarket, insurance and funeral services, the Co-op plants its flag firmly in the tent-pole camp.
So too, last month in a new campaign by Mullen Lowe, did the Co-op Bank.
Both Co-op campaigns also highlight another very contemporary theme, purpose.
And then we have one without any obvious higher-level purpose altogether, BrewDog’s ‘Most Honest Ad Ever’ campaign (above). It calls this “one of the cheapest ads ever”, which it is in one sense (zero production values for what is essentially white noise and a static picture), but not in terms of its media budget, which included the final episode of Game of Thrones, Britain’s Got Talent and the Cup Final (not to mention some premium OOH sites).
So…playing a little fast and loose with the concept of honesty there.
Nevertheless, despite heaps of opprobrium being dumped on the ad by Campaign and Marketing Week, it represents a major statement of intent.
People will argue over what that statement is. I think, and I paraphrase here, it’s this: ‘We don’t really like the fact that we have to advertise like our mainstream rivals, but we’ve taken the private equity cash and they want rapid growth, so that’s the way it is. That being so, let’s take the most nihilistic, arsey, two-fingers-to-the-world approach we can, so that we can pretend to ourselves that we’re staying true to our punk roots.’
I suspect too that BrewDog has come up against one of the universal truths of beer advertising: people drink the ads, not the product. This is probably painful for a craft brewer, so it is doing its best to mitigate this.
Back to the Co-op. Despite the fact that the bank and the supermarket/funerals/insurance arms are owned separately (a corporate legacy of the Bank’s disastrous takeover of Britannia in 2009 and the infamous ‘crystal Methodist’ sex-and-rent boys scandal) the two organisations share an ethical heritage which has deep roots in the Co-op movement’s long history.
The Bank ad (above) shows how people feel better when co-operate. “It’s hard to be good, but it’s good when we try,” it says, which is perhaps a nod to its dodgy recent past, but also underlines the fact that the world loves a sinner who repents. Indeed, the bank plays its cards quite explicitly, with an endline that says ‘For people with purpose’.
Quite rightly, it senses there is an opportunity for a challenger bank that is genuinely different from the others (especially given that Metro has now revealed itself to have feet of clay and TSB’s IT howler last year).
And of course, unlike the other banks, the Co-op can genuinely claim to be a purpose-driven entity.
As with the bank, so the ‘purpose’ behind the other Co-op brands is both a variation on the theme and equally clear. You can see the three ads here. These highlight the Co-op’s contributions to community — ‘it’s not a gimmick. It’s what we do’ — the ads say.
On one level then, all these campaigns are quite old-fashioned (classic, if you prefer). There is an idea behind all of them, they are TV-centric, and they represent tent-poles that hold a central concept in place and off which (apologies for the camping analogy) the guy ropes of tactical activity can be hung. Perhaps less so with BrewDog, but certainly with each of the different Co-op brands you can see how they might progress in future.
And finally the modern obsession among brands (mostly misplaced, in my view) about purpose plays right into the hands of the Co-op brands. Unlike so many attempts by brands to find purpose, there is absolutely nothing manufactured about this. It’s completely authentic and, better still, generally known and understood by consumers. They just needed reminding.
As for BrewDog, I’m not sure it has ever articulated a purpose in the sense that brands mean it. But if it did, it would be ‘do fun shit and stir everybody up’. Which this campaign does.
Health and Safety 1 — Media Research 0
Like many others, I listened intently last week as Mark Barber and Heather Andrew of Neuro-Insight introduced the Radiocentre’s Hear and Now research.
You can read about it here. It is, in short, another reminder of the power and relevance of context and another attempt to kill the cockroach that is audience-first targeting.
“Aha”, I thought, “this is an update of the legendary ‘Ironing Board’ study”, created by Saatchi and Saatchi in 1980 to examine the cut-through of radio. (And no, I certainly don’t remember the original study, but even in the early-90s people still referred to it with reverence and wonder.) You can read about a later version of it here on the Mediatel archive.
In the ‘Ironing Board’ study a clutch of housewives were invited to ‘test’ a new starch product on their ironing while in the background they listened to the radio. The real test was on their recall of the ads while they performed another task.
Today, of course, only the 1922 Committee or UKIP would think such a demographic appropriate.
But initial attempts by the Radiocentre to re-run the study, no doubt with an appropriate gender split, were cancelled on the grounds that ironing while listening to the radio was a dangerous activity and could not under any circumstances be permitted.
Instead, this latest bunch of media lab rats were invited to perform safer tasks — peeling vegetables (not chopping — also dangerous), exercising and simulated driving.
Media researchers — you have been warned. H&S is on your case.