charity messaging – for the good of the funds or the cause?
After a rather depressing visit to a local horse sanctuary full of miserable horses this week and another meeting with my vet about the life expectancy of my horse, the topic of euthanasia for horses and dogs has been on my mind.
Chatting it through with the girls at the stables, we all agreed that it was quality of life that mattered – not quantity and that just because an animal wasn’t actually dying there was no hard and fast rule that it should be kept alive. Animals with incurable behavioural issues that mean they can’t be rehomed, animals in constant pain or animals that have quite clearly had enough all deserve the most dignified, pain and distress free end we can give them.
Which makes me wonder about Dogs Trust and the message they’ve been running for the last few years that ‘we never put a healthy dog down’. It’s a great positioning from a marketing point of view as it would clearly appeal to animal lovers who anthropomorphise animals and believe they have a right to life.
The line also positions Dogs Trust as the best dog charity to support if the thought of healthy dogs being put down distresses you – I’m always amazed when I deal with the marketing teams of charities by how they often see other charities aiming for the same goals as them as competition not collaborators.
But I’m not sure that this messaging is actually in the best interests of all of their animals. Where do you draw the line at ‘healthy’? For example, with an exuberant Staffie (they’re sweet dogs but very full-on and some have been turned irrevocably nasty by abuse, giving them a bad reputation) who is never going to be rehomed and will spend the next 5 years in kennels (which we know is a very stressful place to be for a dog) it may actually be kinder to spare the dog all that stress and put them to sleep. But it sounds like Dogs Trust wouldn’t do that. Estimates vary, but it looks like Staffies take up between 40% and 80% of space in charity kennels at the moment while presumably other dogs who could be rehomed and go on to a fulfilling life can’t be accommodated.
What’s a charity to do? Chose a positioning that will bring in the most money to support their cause – or one that seems (to me to be) best from a welfare point of view?
Interestingly, Dogs Trust have dropped that line from this lovely new ad (by Soho Square) I found on their youtube channel (although it’s still on their website):
why isn’t anybrand saying that the gym isn’t always the answer?
I’ve had a bee in my bonnet for a while about what I see as the broad perception among the health, diet and fitness profession that being fit & healthy = going to the gym.
Apart from the super fit fitness fans and some of my Dad’s 60+ mates (who seem to use the gym as a pub type social club with exercise as a minor added bonus), I don’t know many people who actually enjoy going to the gym. Which seems to me to be the problem.
If you enjoy something, you’ll keep doing it. You’ll make an effort even when you’re tired, or busy, or it’s raining sideways. But if you don’t really enjoy it you’ll go less frequently and eventually stop – witness the massive influx of new members to gyms every January who quickly drop off again – the first year gym membership drop out rate has been variously estimated from 30-40% (The Independent) to 60-70% (The Mail).
We do seem to be gradually shifting from a ‘diet and lose weight quickly’ message to a ‘lifetime of healthy eating habits’ approach, but apart from a bit of Change 4 Life 150 active minutes messaging the Powers That Be don’t seem to have addressed the issue of finding exercise activities that people actually enjoy and will keep up.
Thanks to regular horse riding (some of it side saddle) I’m fairly fit (and halfway to a six pack) yet I haven’t darkened the doors of a gym in ten years. I keep at it because I really enjoy it. It was the same with most of the older ladies I used to meet at my tap dancing class who turned out once a week without fail for a giggle and a dance.
You have to find something you love. It might be the gym, but it equally might be swimming, jogging, canoeing, hill walking, bellydancing or mountain biking.
With Change 4 Life funding unfrozen, it feels like now would be a great time for a ‘try something new (and keep it up)’ campaign from them. Or maybe this is an opportunity for a brand to step up and claim the territory (and moral high ground). Nestle did ‘Get Set Go Free’ last year but that talked about trial, not lifestyle.
I really think there’s an opportunity here – or has someone just done this and I’ve missed it?
Yay (and also Boo Hiss) to the return of long copy
I keep getting told that long copy ads are back.
MI6 have this month taken a wordy approach to recruitment (courtesy of M&C Saatchi):
(click the image above and click again to enlarge to a readable size)
There’s lots of nice long copy outdoor around at the moment:
which came from here, where there’s a fab posterscope recruitment one too
Does it work? Well here’s what the eye tracking says:
taken from a great post by thinkeyetracking
The last 12 months has seen a lot of nice long(er) copy generally:
view the hi-res origional here at Marketing Week
image from here
BUT. There’s beautifully crafted, and sweated over long copy, honed to touch the soul of the reader. And then there’s this B2B ‘diary style’ ad I found in this month’s Research magazine:
(click and click to enlarge if you must, but I wouldn’t bother)
<sigh>
Never Knowingly Underprepared
As the fridge heaved last weekend with the extra-large-in-case-it-snows-alot supermarket shop, I was chatting to a family member about what our family motto could be. We came up with Never Knowingly Underprepared.
image generated here
As a family we all like lists, fully stocked cupboards, Plans of Action and Being Prepared. In my previous agency life my desk draw was like a cross between Boots and WhSmith and regularly saved the day by dispensing baby wipes, plasters, painkillers, staplers and spare umbrellas.
Admittedly, I was that irritating pitch team member who was ready to leave for the pitch ten minutes early, with directions, an agenda, background notes and an extension cable.
But in contrast, most of AdLand seems to live by the mantra Always Winging It and/or It’ll be right on the night. I’ve lost count of number of times I’ve sat in meetings where it quickly became apparent to everyone including the client that at least one of the agency team was winging it and hopelessly unprepared.
It’s such a waste of time and money. As an industry we spend an absolute fortune on New Business activity, from PR and networking to exorbitant awards entries and even advertising ourselves – then when we do get that coveted initial client meeting, we roll up unprepared.
Or if you’re looking at it from a ‘bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’ point of view, sometimes we even rock up to meetings with clients we’re already working with and still try to blag it.
I know we’re all very busy. And I know that everyone isn’t like that. But it seems bonkers for anyone to go unprepared to even one meeting – it has just cost too much to get there.
PS I should point out that I’m not Superwoman. Before Christmas I got stuck in a traffic jam on the way to a new business meeting, got there 15 minutes late and promptly spilt coffee all over myself. Not surprisingly, I have yet to get any work from that client…
why do we promote people out of what they’re good at?
ITIABTWC posted last week about whether a great Creative was made up of the same stuff as a great Creative Director and therefore whether seeing one as the natural progression of the other was actually a sensible idea.
It strikes me that it’s the same in lots of other disciplines, including Planning. It’s a good job I’ve gone freelance as frankly, I’m pretty rubbish at both office politics and managing people so progression up the managerial job ladder towards titles like ‘Planning Director’ or ‘Head of Planning’ was always going to be problematic (but I hope I’m still a pretty good Planner).
It does seem bonkers that the way we reward people for being brilliant at something skill and aptitude specific is by effectively putting them in charge of running HR and finance, thus redirecting their time and attention from the thing they’re recognised as being good at.
image borrowed from here
Of course as Ben’s original post points out, some people are actually better at the managing and politics bits than the core skill. But they are unlikely to be high profile enough to get recognised as a talent to promote into the senior echelons of man management.
Maybe we need to start remunerating by skillset in terms of management ability and/or specialism skill – but not necessarily keep creating roles that require equal brilliance in both.
the rise of the high street assault course
No wonder our high streets are struggling – they’ve become a shopping assault course.
In my second Planning job one of my clients was a big shopping centre. One of the insights we came up with was that this out of town complex was simply shopping made easier than the high street – it was warm, dry, flat for easy pushing of pushchairs and had free parking. It was also seen by many women as being a lot safer place to shop, chiefly because the security guards and zero tolerance policy towards buskers, beggars and chuggers made it less intimidating and consequently more relaxing.
Anyone who has recently tried to make their way on foot through a city centre will know that ‘relaxing’ is not really an appropriate word to use. Since one of my busiest clients is based in Leeds city centre I’ve been taking the opportunity to run a few errands after meetings but I regularly have to face an assault course of big issue sellers (who, to be fair, are the most polite of all of them), MRS clipboard ladies, lucky heather sellers, buskers, the-end-is-nigh religious types, novelty woolly hat cart traders, leafleteers and chuggers.
Last week in Leeds I was approached by twelve different variations of the above in the time it took me to walk from the car to M&S.
Shelter had no less than six chuggers within 200 yards of each other (I counted) in Leeds this Tuesday
The chuggers are worst of all. Again last week I was walking along when out of the corner of my eye a 6 foot something bloke built like a tank strode towards me shouting “hey, lady in the black coat!”. My first thought was not ‘goodness me, who is that interesting and charming man?’, it was ‘Help’. When another dirty great chugger bloke tried “hey, lady in the stripy grey trousers” a hundred yards further along I’m afraid my reply was most unladylike.
Shopping is supposed to be pleasurable. Not scary. And until city centres put their foot down and clean up their high streets, more and more people will decamp to the safety and reduced stress of out of town shopping. Which means that the stores will follow them.
I don’t think life-by-smartphone would be all that smart an idea
If we are to believe the trendwatchers and futurists, we’ll all be running our lives by smartphone within a few years, using them for everything from paying for goods to opening our garage doors (thanks for the link Ally).
I have an android smartphone and I’m rather attached to it…but I’ve just declined the upgrade I was due. As well as the cost savings of switching to a SIM only plan I can’t bear the thought of wasting a day of my life trying to get a new smartphone up and running and the possible/probable data loss that would occur as a result of the changeover.
You see, I just don’t quite trust technology. I did a software update on the phone last week that mysteriously and randomly wiped 20% of my contacts. It was only because I refuse to be parted from my backup Filofax that I had a copy of everything.
If I was entirely reliant on my phone as camera, diary, address book, credit card, keys, web browser, email reader, calculator and, erm, phone then my handbag would unquestionably be a lot lighter and smaller. But what if the phone got nicked? Or broke? Or just ran out of battery? My entire life would grind to a halt.
I’m just not sure that the majority of smartphone owners are ready to break away from their other Stuff and trust their lives to the gods of hardware, software and signal.
have Weightwatchers made a big fat mistake?
I was having a look at something/procrastinating on Vevo this morning and got served the new Weightwatchers ad (which came out at the start of the month but had somehow passed me by), by Saatchi & Saatchi.
this is the short version, the long one lasts a full ad break
It’s caused quite a bit of upset among Weightwatchers loyal followers (and the wider dieting community) as it features the almost-too-skinny-and-has-never-dieted Alesha Dixon.
You can see their point – why should someone who is naturally skinny and/or a gym bunny and/or just doesn’t eat much ever be a great brand ambassador for a brand that helps people change their attitude towards food and lose weight? Alesha hasn’t fought the good fight and won her weight loss medal.
In contrast, Weightwatchers USA has Jennifer Hudson as a front/spokeswoman who went from curvy/a bit unhealthy to less-curvy/healthy with Weightwatchers. They’ve produced this ‘Believe’ ad for 2012:
and even have a compare-and-contrast video:
The UK ad makes a point of only using actual Weightwatchers members who have lost weight on their plan (plus, of course, Alesha), however as a result it also features some pretty awful lip syncing and arm waving. I can totally see what Saatchi were trying to do but I know which country’s efforts would be more likely to inspire me to get down to a meeting (not that I’m on a diet, for the record).
why transcripts are a brilliant learning tool for quallies
I’ve done more focus groups in the last 18 months than I did in the previous 5 years. It’s been a steepish learning curve and one of the first things I realised was that I really hate listening back to hours of me moderating via Dictaphone for both analysis purposes and to find some good quotes for the debrief.
Then it dawned on me that since my clients were paying for my time (as I laboriously rewinded the tape yet again, typing the best bits out at 25wpm), it would actually be cheaper for them to pay a professional transcription agency to knock out transcripts of my groups at 100wpm. Everyone was a winner.
In fact, I came out of it even better as it turns out that transcripts are a brilliant learning tool. While you’re wincing at the sound of your own voice on the tape and typing as fast as you can you don’t really pause to wonder if you worded that question right or should have left that lady to talk for a bit longer. But looking though a nicely laid out transcript the week after the groups your less-than-brilliant moments are there in black and white.
Through my transcripts I’ve identified several little bad moderating habits to be nipped in the bud – and transcripts are dead handy (in a word doc edit-find kind of way) when you suddenly need a quote about product guarantees and don’t want to wade through nine hours of tape to find it.
I honestly believe that all researchers should be getting professional transcripts of their groups done occasionally simply to see where they might be going wrong or right. Or are you all doing that anyway and I’m just late to the party?
why Gusto got it very wrong
I got an email from Northern restaurant chain Gusto today. Their local outpost is handily located half way between between my house and two close friends so we often choose it as venue and I therefore have their loyalty discount card.
I can see the idea of a diet campaign – they’ll have quiet restaurants in January (mainly because nearly everyone is skint) but also partly because a lot of people are on a health kick and don’t want to spoil it by dining out. So team up with a nutritionist to create a 14 day diet plan that includes a list of dishes off the menu that you *can* enjoy and still lose weight and hopefully drive some extra footfall into the restaurants.
But it all falls apart when you read the bottom of the email or click through to the website. Aside from the fact that I’ve never heard of their celebrity nutritionist (a quick search reveals she’s been on Sky Living), it appears that Gusto want their customers to cough up £20 for the privilege of having a copy of this diet plan.
Twenty pounds.
Entire hardback diet cookbooks don’t cost that much. And the last time I checked, most brands were offering their ‘diet plan that benefits our brand’ info for free. Like (*quickly googles*) Special K, Edam cheese and Activia yoghurts for a start.
Either Gusto have a hugely over-inflated idea of the perceived value it’s customers place on the brand, or they mistakenly saw an opportunity to make a quick buck. Either way, I’ll be very surprised if they shift more than a couple of downloads. Which is a shame as a free diet plan (with perhaps a discount voucher for dining at Gusto in January) would have shifted a heck of a lot more value in dinners.
All in all, it’s a big, fat fail.
