Choosing right advertisement strategy

The still-ongoing massive ad campaign launched by the Tamil Nadu Government in celebration of its completing a year in office has evoked its share of criticism on the ground of the huge outgo from the public exchequer at a time when austerity is a paramount necessity.

The advertisements have been praising to the skies the different departments of the Government for achievements which have all been hailed to be out of the ordinary.

In the process, they also raise a question over the need for bringing out whole pages in all the mainstream print media all over India, while the interest in the matter they contain is confined to Tamil Nadu, and at the most, the Southern States.

On the positive side, the Government can, with a measure of justification, claim that the campaign was born out of its sense of accountability to the people; it was only discharging its bounden duty to its sovereign masters, the people, who had voted it to power and whose “most obedient and humble servants” (to quote the words with which officials in British days described themselves while signing their letters to their subjects), the Ministers and officials were.

Looked that way, the campaign, its defenders can argue, should be taken as a score card to enable the sovereign masters to gauge for themselves the earnestness and competence of the Government. And since any Government is engaged in a mind-boggling range of activities, the mammoth write-ups cannot be avoided, especially if the reporting has to be comprehensive and convincing.

Disseminating details of Tamil Nadu's achievements all over India helps in highlighting its comparative status.

MEDIA STING

A point missed in this defence, made no doubt in all good faith, is that if the intention was to give an objective account, the series of advertisements should have also carried the deficiencies and omissions.

The people would certainly be interested to know whether the benefits envisaged under the various schemes actually reached those concerned and whether the measures taken by public servants from the Chief Secretary downwards have met the people's expectations in this respect.

For instance, a media sting has brought to light that even though the Government had raised the old age pension from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000, the elderly and the infirm were victims of cruel harassment and humiliation at the hands of officials of the Coimbatore Collectorate, besides having to shell out amounts they can ill-afford as bribes for having the benefits granted.

The people would have been overjoyed if the advertisements had assured them that each department has constituted a Flying Squad of senior public servants headed by the Secretary to make surprise visits to government offices and save the people from heartless treatment by public servants.

CYNICISM AND DISTRUST

Leaving these aspects aside, the fundamental question is about the usefulness of such an ad strategy which is almost akin to shouting from rooftops.

It is important here to remember the earthy dictum of the Father of Advertisement, David Ogilvy, that 99 per cent of advertising doesn't sell much of anything in any case!

As for government ads, they start with the handicap of being looked upon by people with cynicism and distrust and the louder and seemingly more boastful they are, the less is their persuasive effect.

In fact, there is an inherent and ingrained resistance to take at face value any government ad that pats itself on the back.

The cynicism becomes all the greater when the ads have a political salient.

To quote David Ogilvy once again, “Political advertising ought to be stopped. It's the only really dishonest kind of advertising that's left. It's totally dishonest.”

The right ad strategy for anyone who wishes his product or service to make an enduring impact on the people's mind is also one that is derived from the most sparkling of all Ogilvian gems: “A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself.”

Judged by these criteria, the strategy adopted by the United Progressive Alliance Government is the best one: It doesn't go in for any bombastic ad blitz, and stops with bringing out a pamphlet released by the Prime Minister and the Chairperson of the Alliance in the presence of the Alliance partners at a media meet.

COMMENT NOW