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Advertising is judged in society by its output, but it provides a lot more value than those outside it give it credit for. So just how can advertising prove its worth?
Ask someone outside of the advertising industry what they think of it and you’ll probably get some commentary on ad content: “I like that ad” or “I don’t like that ad”. Either way, the fact remains that advertising tends to be a industry judged on its output.
This is despite the advertising and marketing sector being an important lever for the economy, both in Australia and abroad.
In April, the UK’s Advertising Association commissioned a piece of research looking at the total export value of advertising, which was head and shoulders above other service industries including insurance and construction. It was only topped by computer services and telecommunications.
That figure also says nothing about the potential social value advertising can have when it taps into an issue.
The Communications Council is preparing to launch a report similar here next month.
Those in the industry know advertising’s inherent value, but it’s a harder point to make outside the adland bubble. But should it be?
As always, we asked the experts: how can advertising prove its social and economic value in our world?
About Damian:
Damian has been in advertising for 23 years, and has worked across markets in Asia, the US, Europe and Australia. He is the founding partner of independent agency The Works and holds the position of global creative director on Jim Beam.
Could the creative economy fuel Australia’s next boom? Can we become the powerhouse of the creative industries in the Asia Pacific region and really prove our economic value to society?
We would need to export our IP, people, technology and products and encourage large companies to invest in Australia as the hot bed of creativity. To succeed we need to begin at home; the government is investing behind the tech industry and we are part of that as an industry so let’s get in there and invest in up and coming talent and ideas that will position Australia as a creative powerhouse.
In the UK, creative employment surpassed financial services during the GFC. A recent creative economy manifesto released by the UK charity Nesta declares that country’s creative economy to be “one of its great national strengths”. It provides jobs for 2.5 million people and contributes $7.2 billion to the economy in revenue.
The combined creative industries, which include film, television, radio, advertising, marketing, design and visual arts contributed $45 billion to GDP in 2011.
The social value of advertising is more relevant than ever as consumers have caught up with brands, do not trust them and are driving their agendas.
There is an expectation now that brands have to do the right thing and have a stronger purpose in the world. Brands need to show how they are impacting society and affecting society broadly, from challenging the status quo to redefining categories.
The ones that don’t will suffer in the long run.
About Ryan:
Ryan is a great believer in the marriage between strategy and creativity and has helped lead Ogilvy’s strategy team for 3.5 years, working on a broad range of clients and categories, including Coca-Cola, KFC, Lion, Nestlé and Transport for NSW.
I think the answer is staring us in the face. Each year The Communications Council hosts the Effies award show, which celebrates the most effective communications campaigns in Australia.
At present, this award show and the results are pretty much contained within industry. Agencies and their clients have a drink, toast the winners, and then (rightfully) use the awards as badges of honour for great work, and/or credentials when attempting to win new business or recruit staff.
Yet what if we made a bigger deal of the Effies and ensured the impressive results from Australian-produced campaigns permeated well outside the industry and into mainstream media?
The truth is that these awards already do prove advertising’s social and economic value to society, but the audience for said evidence is somewhat limited in its reach.
I’m convinced that with a slight change in the way campaigns are judged as ‘effective’, along with case studies and results being packaged up into entertaining, engaging and informative content that appeal to the masses, the industry could start to prove its worth to wider society.
As an industry, each year we create a mountain of campaigns that ‘work’. We’re skilled at making great content. And we’re not exactly shy about talking up our successes.
Surely we can combine all this to achieve greater recognition for the positive impact we have on society and the economy?
About Alex:
Alex’s position enables him to indulge his passion for pop culture. Soap’s playful creative output encompasses everything from integrated partnerships, to tactical social campaigns and IRL activations.
People don’t value advertising. People do value what advertising facilitates and enables.
Think of all the brands and products you use and enjoy that would not exist in their current form without the increased sales, competition, consumer choice and employment that advertising drives.
From your Spotify playlists to your Red Cross donations, the vast majority of brands and products you engage with exist in their current form, in large part, due to their effective advertising.
No advertising means no Spotify as you know it and potentially no music streaming. The list of brands, products, content and companies that would not exist in their current form without advertising is infinite.
Within every campaign, advertisers should run one tailored execution, just once, to communicate ‘This (insert brand/product/content/company here) would not exist without advertising’. Short substantiating copy would explain the benefits of advertising, including how advertising ultimately enabled you the consumer to use or enjoy X.
This personalised perspective will communicate advertising’s value to the public more vividly than any report. Advertising and media agencies would willingly fund these executions to benefitthe industry. Marketers would happily participate, provided the executions were delivered gratis by their agencies.
The cumulative effect of this campaign, featuring thousands of tailored executions every year, across channels, would steadily educate society about the social and economic value of advertising.
About Bjöern:
Bjöern is an associate creative director at M&C Saatchi. Arriving from Germany three years ago, he is a keen surfer and chilli grower, enjoying the Aussie lifestyle on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Life could be ‘wurst’.
How can advertising prove its worth? With one-ply toilet paper. How? Because without advertising there would be no brands.
Without brands there would be no competition. Without competition there would be no innovation. And without innovation we would, among many other hardships, still have to clean our bottoms with one-ply toilet paper.
So, for people to notice the value of advertising we could go back to the pre-advertising roots and, for one week, replace all the soft, multi-ply goodness with one-ply sheets of rectal horror.
Or a slightly simpler and most certainly less painful way to prove that advertising isn’t just an annoying evil we all have to endure could be to actually add value to people’s lives and not just try to force our messages down their throats.
We could start creating advertising that changes perspectives, shines a light on pressing issues, sparks conversations or simply makes people laugh.
Because creating work that really makes a difference to people’s lives, in big and small ways, doesn’t really need to prove its social and economic value anymore, it becomes the proof itself.
Nobody would question the value campaigns like ‘Earth Hour’, ‘Clever Buoy’ or ‘#likeagirl’ add to society. People just question the value that the relentlessly shouty “hurry, limited time only” advertising mob actually adds. And they might be onto something there.
Anyway, two good options on the table here. Maybe we should do some research.
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