This is the first in what will be a weekly column by Clive Simpkins focusing on the media and marketing world
REG LASCARIS (of Hunt Lascaris TBWA) and Nick Green (of Markinor) have long argued the case for recognising “value bands” in people’s thinking. They stress that it’s not just demographics (where they live, how much they earn, how many offspring and so on) and psychographics (the lifestyle, attitudinal, mind-set stuff) that makes them respond to advertising. But also intellect and values. Regardless of skin colour or ethnicity, certain clusters of people globally will have similar “hot buttons” and turn-off switches.
Advertising in a transition like our fledgling democracy, is not going to be without pitfalls. Particularly when die-hard traditionalists still segment according to skin colour and use patronising, sometimes condescending, “simplified” versions of an ad to make the same point. If you think I’m exaggerating, I have clients who actually refer to black people as their “Third World” market segment.
So it’s refreshing to see ads like the antiquated daughter and positively desiccated but highly mobile “mother”, touting the benefits of Panasonic VHS cameras. Panasonic managing director Alan Coward says it was actually a British ad, verifying that a zany and non-conformist approach can still make a memorable and powerful selling point. Bravo if we’re headed for Guinness-type indigenous humour one day.
Enter then the new M-Tel commercials, following the somewhat precipitous booting of M-Tel from Lindsay Smithers who embraced vacillating Vodacom. My reaction to the first flighting of the M-Tel British “Toff” and his over-the-top slapstick performance with encoded “blankout”, was one of complete enjoyment. It cut through all the garbage about supposed differences in service providers and showed that M-Tel were secure enough not to have to take themselves too seriously, unlike — for example — the boring dog/kennel Vodacom network provider TV commercial. I have both Vodacom and MTN lines, so no unfair bias!
When dealing with an obvious parity product, it’s nice to have a bit of a chuckle while being invited to use a particular service. Not unexpected that such an approach emanates from The Jupiter Drawing Room’s new sibling, Hercules. This ad sticks indelibly in my mind after just one viewing, in contrast to previous M-Tel advertising.
I asked John Warsop (brother of TJDr’s Graham) and managing director of Hercules, what the rationale is. The off-the- wall approach might surely trigger a stereotyped irritation in some, if not many, Afrikaners and complete mystification in some black viewers.
Warsop says they’ve gone for classic M-Net A/B income “innovators”. They’ve targeted “intellectually”.
So the ads are aimed at people able to appreciate subtlety. They “ride on the heritage of M-Net service quality”. He says their objective is simple and unambiguous. “We want the M-Tel ads to be noticed and memorable.” This would avoid the indictment levelled by Murray Schumach in The Face on the Cutting Room Floor in 1964, that “Television is the bland leading the bland”.
* Communications Dynamics MD Clive Simpkins is a leading image consultant and communications expert