Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

I have a love for ads made long ago. So simple, so sell-y, so radiant with clipart. Naturally, I swooned when I learned that the National Academy of Sciences in Washington is currently running a retrospective of 20th-century health posters. It’s pretty fascinating to look back on how simply the public health authorities chose to warn nations about the mysterious ailments of the time. The kind of look and feel we use today to promote indie bands and liquor, they used to inform and warn about the dangers of tuberculosis and syphilis.

Knowing that the anti-information approach will probably never make a comeback, I think we should all take a moment to pay homage to the era of cartooned minimalism.

"Achoo. And so begins an epidemic."

Hooray, political ads have left the airwaves! But rejoice cautiously, friends. Because we’re all in store for a lengthy run of another kind of creatively soulless advertising: the tanking-economy ad.

Times are tough. Which means the Unique Selling Proposition has officially been replaced with the Cheap, Clichéd Proposition (a la “our product is good for you, and for your wallet!” Gag.) Today, brands have tabled their interesting stories to engage instead with price. Personally, over the last 4 months 90% of the ads I’ve written have had to include a value message in some form, usually in really big letters. The same brands that were touting best-in-class flavor or ingredients or service a year ago, are now saying, ‘Hi! We’re cheap.’

Granted, some brands are trying to not be quite so overt. Sara Lee, instead of airing happy people smiling around a ginormous ham sandwich, is now showing the same happy people dancing around PB&J. A subliminal economic message. But really, Sara?

Meanwhile, some brands are coming out of the woodwork, thinking they can take advantage of the country’s abysmal state. New York Life just launched a campaign that suggests the ideal gift for loved ones this holiday season is not jewelry or a vacation, but rather life insurance, which the ads call “the selfless gift.” Seriously?

I hear even Bloomingdale’s is advertising 50 percent off furs.

And I shouldn’t need to mention Toyota.
 
I get it. We’re all hurting right now. But is this the only viable strategy? When the economy turns around, how will people remember your brand?

I think the value message can be done right, but with so many brands rushing to shout price from the hilltops…we all might be wishing Kay Hagan was back on the air instead.

Hang on just a minute.

That premise assumes corporate message is disconnected from corporate behavior. Such is not the case with the companies we work for.

If a corporation is straightforward with customers, is fair and honest with employees, is transparent with investors, then a corporation doesn't have to "control" its message.  It "lives" its message. 

In my experience, if a corporation has at its core a higher purpose, a purpose other than making a profit, it is more likely to live its message.  Few corporations - outside of presentations to institutional investors or stock analysts - communicate a message of profitability only.  But a corporation that communicates one message and lives another way day-to-day, that organization eventually will lose credibility.

It's just like a person.  Stress invades a person's life when he or she acts in ways that are disconnected with his or her beliefs. A corporation communicates authentically when it doesn't have to worry about crafting a message that is out of alignment with its behavior.

Are there exceptions?  Sure, there are exceptions to any rule.  Just like people, corporations are subject to unwarranted and unsubstantiated attacks from competitors, former employees, interest groups or the news media.  But the best inoculation against those attacks is living the message.