Sorry for not posting for a bit. Things have been a little busy. Still, back now, and thought I'd better finish off a post I started a few weeks ago but never got around to posting. Apologies if you know all about it already.
We take as our start point an interview with Sir Martin S. And you can bet that when Sir Martin Sorrell stands up and says something's important, a lot of people listen. And he thinks it's important that advertising and marketing take responsibility for wider social and environmental issues :
'Consumers, governments and non-government organisations will favour those companies that take a more constructive approach to issues such as the environment, food availability, obesity and water shortages'
Here's the full interview, if you're interested. We also assume this was the reasoning behind his selling of Robert Mugabe's agency of record in Zimbabwe.
There can be no denying that CSR has moved up the agenda recently. Organisations are adopting 'causes' as fast as you like to show how committed they are to saving the planet, our kids etc etc. Not only that, but as reported last week, government ad spend has topped £150m.
Now, in my opinion, all this is to be applauded. As an industry we talk about how good we are at influencing people, so it's positive that we're deploying these skills to help solve bigger problems. Just as long as the role of advertising and communication is kept in perspective - it's as foolish to believe that we can cure society's ills as it is to believe that simply banning (or 'restricting') our activity will fix the problem.
That all said, I thought I'd give you some of my favourite examples, along with a couple of lessons that we can learn from them.
We'll kick off with one you probably know about, Anomaly's campaign for Keep A Child Alive. This was a campaign that hijacked the launch of the iphone in the US. Basically one of the guys from Anomaly started queining up for the iPhone, safe in the knowledge that it was going to get loads of publicity. They were right. Soon he was getting interviewed by the news stations and he explained that he was going to buy the first iPhone in the US, and then immediately auction it on ebay for the charity. The rest is, as they say, history. Spike Lee came down to lend his support. The phone sold for $100,000 and the media value of the coverage gained was in the millions:
In a similar vein is The Tap Project, created by Droga 5. Another brilliantly simple idea which involved getting restaurants in cities across the US (it started in NY), to serve tap, instead of mineral, water for a day. All the money raised went to providing clean drinking water to Africa.
Closer to home, we've a few examples, mainly in the form of what we would call 'Branded Content'. Our colleagues over at MG have done some fantastic stuff PCSO TV show, which did so well at the Awards last year. Jamie's School Dinners is another great example. The lesson here seems to be that you must entertain as well as educate. This is obviously easier as programming rather than advertising, as you have more time to both frame the problem and offer solutions.
This approach is also taking off abroad. A new soap opera, Kyunki..Jeeni Isi Ka Naam Hai, lauched in India in April. Woven into the storylines are advice about sanitation, HIV/AIDS and immunisation. The idea was devleoped by Naysan Sahba whilst he was working on UNICEF's polio vaccination programme, and UN experts are used as script consultatnts. More details are here if you're interested.
In Russia a radio soap, Dom 7, Podyezd 4, was set up to help ease the transition from Communist to capitalist society. Remarkably, it even featured an appearance from then UK PM, Tony Blair.
Even more remarkably, the model for all of this is The Archers, the longest running soap in the UK, which has been broadcast on Radio 4 for 58 years. It was originally created by the BBC in partnership with The Ministry of Agriculture, who were keen to disseminate information to increase agricultural productivity in the years following the end of rationing.
So, what lessons should we draw on from all of this? I'd suggest four :
1. Don't try and do it all on your own. Putting consortia together to tackle these issues shares responsibility, resource and expertise. This is something we know about as an agency. It is easier than ever before to contact influential stakeholders and communities and pull in their support. Jamie's School Dinners was a great example of this in action, where local networks were brought into the scheme, which could then be rolled up, through the power of Jamie and Channel 4 into a ntaional campaign. Which brings me to the next point...
2. Have a launch platform. An event that pushes the issue into the national consciousness. This is obviously hugely important, but don't let it take over, because...
3. Don't, whatever you do, think that after the launch you've done it. This was the problem Make Poverty History had. After Live8 the campaign just vanished. It's at this stage you have to go back to your partners and keep them interested and pushing forward. Be clear about how you do this.
4. And finally, remember that the best way of educating people is to entertain them as well.
All this is interesting stuff to be sure. If you want to read more, I'd suggest looking at this. It's the Movement Action Plan developed by Bill Moyer, a veteran social activist from the US, who worked with, amongst others, the Civil Rights movement, the American Indian Movement and the nuclear blockade at Seabrook. A man who knows his stuff. And who we could learn from.
-- Toby