Over-advertising triggers cynicism amongst global consumers
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Brands and brand building are considered essentials tools in any marketer’s arsenal and advertising has always been a key instrument in brand creation. Good Advertising has helped create distinct personas for otherwise similar products, in similar categories thereby creating differentiation and enduring value for brands. Consumers see brands as essentials helping them make choices, compare offerings and make prudent purchase decisions. But in a capitalist world, too much consumerism and surfeit of marketing tactics to lure the consumer have resulted in a certain cynicism among consumers with questions being asked even about the most entrenched brands. Businesses have felt the need to go beyond traditional product benefits to create differentiation.
Businesses are investing in specific and relevant community service, to help and assist the larger community in which they operate. Businesses have the opportunity of engaging the immense creative talent existing in their advertising agencies to help create brands that are not only enduring and differentiated but ones which are of immense value to the communities they operate in. Some brands have started on this journey but much more needs to be done and can be done.
If the creative talent of the advertising industry can be channelled towards the good of society as well as brands, then more meaningful and broader relationships can be forged between brands and consumers. Nedbank’s ‘Power to the People’ campaign is a great example of what companies need to be doing in this era of Connection Economy, where the power of advertising is deployed more expansively as a force for good to positively affect the community and the environment. Nedbank is one of the largest banks in South Africa. However, as one of the newer banks to be incorporated in South Africa, and not necessarily cut from the staid old cloth as the established behemoths, it perhaps understood more than the other institutions its social responsibility to go green. So, like its motto dictated, it ‘made things happen’.
Use of electricity created the traditional way is a major source of global warming. On the other hand, many African communities are in dire need of resources and have no access to basic utilities such as electricity. Billboards, an advertising staple, are generally considered to be a visual pollutant of the 21st century.
But what if a billboard could be transformed into more than just a billboard? With its ‘Power to the People’ campaign, Nedbank, in a triple threat move, put up a billboard in the Alexander township in Johannesburg – one of the poorest townships in Johannesburg – that had solar panels attached at the top which generated electricity that powered the kitchen of a school in the township. The kitchen prepares meals that feed 1,100 primary school children everyday – because you can’t teach a hungry child. Over time, the billboard would generate the school’s entire power needs.
The billboard, which read ‘Giving Real Power to the People’, literally did just that, proving that Nedbank put its money where its mouth is. And of course more than achieved the campaign’s objectives in terms of advertising and PR as the unique billboard, believed to be a world first, created a huge buzz and was featured extensively in the media – numerous write-ups in national publications, coverage on national radio and television news and even namedas a leading example of brand utility by Contagious Magazine. The ‘talk value’ played an important role in establishing Nedbank as the bank that cares about more than just the money.
“There’s a new way to get a corporate message across that not only delivers the message but provides electricity to the people.” began a typical news broadcast. The campaign, designed by BBDO, South Africa, which created the world’s first solar powered billboard designed to harness and convert the heat of the African sun into a much needed necessity – electricity – and prove that a bank could indeed be committed to making a great difference, would go on to win the top advertising prize in the outdoor category, beating a campaign for BBC World created by BBDO, New York.
During the last hours of deliberation, the members of the jury flip-flopped as to whom the prestigious Cannes Lions Outdoor Grand Prix should be awarded to. “We were torn between the head and the heart,” Porky Hefer, one of the jurists was reported as saying. “Sometimes you get overwhelmed by the technology, but you have to get back to the idea.” What ultimately swayed the jury was that the Nedbank campaign made a concrete difference in its community. At a time when short-term promotions are the norm, that the “work that continues to work and continues providing” was key, jury chair Jean-Remy Von Matt, was reported stating. The jury believed that corporate responsibility and advertising that supports social responsibility is the example they would like to set for future creatives.
“This one piece was more than advertising. It was help and it was hope,” Hefer said. “The results and the winners have a big impact on [the creative] youth and they copy the star [we award].
If we award ads that have guns and mayhem, those will be the ads that we will start seeing.” The Nedbank slogan had been elevated from mere creative words into a tangible demonstration. And with more green billboards, harnessing not only solar energy but wind power as well, rolled across South Africa, Nedbank proved its long-term commitment to the community and the planet. Meanwhile BBDO, South Africa, proved that it was possible to generate creative advertising that was a force for good.
(This article was contributed by BBDO Lanka Pvt Ltd)
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