This British ad for Shell is perhaps the most disarming corporate advertisement ever created.
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Roughly half of all the advertising in the world is in the United States, and American agencies are paramount in the rest of the world. In West Germany, nine of the top agencies are American. In the United Kingdom and Holland, seven of the top ten. In Canada and Italy, six of the top ten. In 1977 Philip Kleinman, a British observer of the advertising scene, wrote that ‘all over the world, admen look to Madison Avenue as Moslems look to Mecca.’1
But things are changing. Alexander Kroll, the president of Young & Rubicam, recently said that ‘the best of foreign advertising seems brasher, fresher and more outrageous than ours’.
Remember Aesop’s fable of the Hare and the Tortoise?
The differences between British and American advertising reflect differences in national characteristics. If you question whether those differences are big enough to signify, consider the fact that, on an average Sunday, 42 per cent of Americans go to church, while only 3 per cent go in England.
British commercials tend to be less direct, less competitive, more subtle, more nostalgic, funnier and more entertaining. Techniques which work well in the United States – like talking heads and slice-of-life are seldom used in Britain. The London agencies produce relatively far-out, trendy commercials. After spending four years in London, my partner Bill Taylor wrote, ‘There seems to be a realization in England that maybe, just maybe, the product being sold is not the most important thing in the consumer’s mind. The decision as to which dishwashing liquid to buy, which beer to drink or which toaster to purchase, is not a life-and-death decision. Realizing this, the British are able to present their product to the consumer in perspective. They joke about it, sing about it, and often underplay it. In short, they have a sense of proportion.’ He concludes that, in general, British advertising is the best in the world.
This British ad for Shell is perhaps the most disarming corporate advertisement ever created.
Click here for hi-res image and text.
No wonder British copywriters are now in such demand in the United States. The procession which started with Leslie Pearl, Clifford Field and the author is gathering steam. Barry Day, the Creative Head at McCann-Erickson’s headquarters in New York is an Englishman, as is Norman Berry, the Creative Head of Ogilvy & Mather in New York.
British newspaper advertising at its best...
...Straightforward, direct, never pompous, always interesting. Collett Dickenson Pearce.
French advertising is distinguished for its wit, charm and beautiful art direction, qualities which are seen to best advantage in magazine ads and posters. Many French television commercials are equally enchanting, although I often wonder if they appeal to Claudette, my cook. French copywriters and art directors are not subjected to the kind of research which restrains their American and British colleagues from shooting above the heads of the mass audience. They are free to entertain the upper crust.
I find the atmosphere in the better German agencies very like New York, but dare I confess that I find some of their advertising rather ugly?
German advertisers are bedevilled by an acute shortage of professional staff, and an even more acute shortage of time on television. This obliges them to use magazines more than they would wish.
In Belgium and Sweden, advertising is not allowed on television. You might suppose that this would result in exceptionally high standards of advertising in magazines and newspapers, but it doesn’t.
In the smaller European countries, advertisers cannot afford the kind of research that guides the creative output in North America and the United Kingdom, so they are forced to rely on guesswork, which isn’t always accurate. The multinational advertisers have the advantage that they can extrapolate from the results of their research in bigger markets.
Multinational corporations often wish to use the same advertising campaigns throughout the world, but the managers of their local subsidiaries press their prerogative to commission their own campaigns. The local agencies, even when they belong to the multinational agency which has the parent account, are equally resistant to dictation; they argue that their market is different, and point to the danger of being perceived by the local client as the tool of his multinational headquarters.
One in a superb series of British advertisements for CIGA Hotels. The agency is TBWA.
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There is often some weight in these arguments, but the underlying factor is almost always what Professor Levitt of Harvard calls the N.I.H. Syndrome – Not Invented Here. Any campaign not invented in your country is a threat to your self-respect. The best way to settle these arguments is to test the international campaign in each country. Only when the results are positive should it be used locally, and even then it should be modified to fit the local culture. More often than not, campaigns which perform well in the United States perform equally well in other countries. The Esso tiger was a success in 34 countries.
Many Germans believed that Club Med resorts were snobbish, that they were for summer only, and that only French was spoken. Ads like this proclaimed otherwise.
Reader’s Digest has found that the articles which most interest Americans are the same articles which most interest Frenchmen, Germans, Italians, Dutchmen and Ruritanians. Television commercials which demonstrated the good mileage you get with Shell were equally successful in the United States, Canada, Britain, Germany and Austria.
Advertising in Latin America has made big strides in recent years – particularly in Brazil, where José Fontoura is producing some outstanding campaigns.
But the most dramatic improvement of all has been in South East Asia. Three years ago, I offered a prize of $10,000 to the Ogilvy & Mather office which created the most brilliant advertising in our world-wide network. Which office won the prize, do you suppose? New York? Chicago? London? Paris? The prize went to Bangkok. Barry Owen, the young Australian Creative Director, was the first to use Thai cultural symbols in Thai advertising, thereby giving the lie to the old charge that multinational agencies impose an alien culture wherever they go. Says Barry, ‘What is the significance of a Western jingle to a person who dances beautifully to the sound of a bamboo flute?’
Shell offers motorists helpful information in booklets about emergency repairs, fire safety and so on. This campaign has worked well in the United States, Sweden, Holland, Germany, France, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Austria and South Africa.
Australian advertising has also improved since I was there four years ago; some of it is now very good indeed. Australian advertising people are the most eclectic in the world, the dominant influence being American rather than British. The most spectacular campaigns are being produced by a new agency called Mojo, with Campaign Palace not far behind. But the fastest growing agency is none other than Ogilvy & Mather, which has a broader range.
New Zealand. Considering that the population is only three million, it is remarkable that New Zealand plays the best Rugby football in the world, produces the best sheep, and one of the two greatest sopranos. The advertising would be better if the best creative people did not, like the Scottish, emigrate to richer pastures.
Some brilliant advertising is now being created in Brazil. The headline on this one says, ‘Long before school starts, Mercedes-Benz is already repeating its daily lesson.’
There is very little advertising in India – 37 cents per head per annum, compared with $224 in the United States and $77 in Japan. Indian agency people have an impressive theoretical knowledge of advertising, but it seldom shows in their output. The 19-year-old daughter of my Indian partner Mani Ayer calles it ‘organized graffiti’. Nevertheless, I have seen a few Indian campaigns, such as that for the Indian Cancer Society, which compare favorably with anything in the West.
Indian advertisers have problems unknown in the West. Their campaigns have to be translated into 12 languages, and the majority of the population cannot read any language. The average Indian has an income of $5 a week. Is it fair, do you think, to advertise products which the majority of people will never be able to buy?
The population of India has doubled since Independence in 1947. If it doubles again in the next 25 years – to 1,400,000,000 – the consequence will be massive starvation. I came away from India recently with an unshakeable resolve to find out if the skills I have spent my life acquiring can help to solve the problem of the birthrate. Says Mani Ayer, ‘The elimination of human suffering is too serious to leave to government alone.’ The Government of India has been spending less than 10 cents per child-bearing couple per year on family planning.
A straight-from-the-shoulder benefit is promised in this African poster.
In this advertisement, Australian creative director Barry Owen asks, ‘What is the significance of a Western jingle to a person who dances beautifully to the sound of a bamboo flute?’
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In Kenya, people are lucky to earn $10 a week, and about 70 per cent are illiterate. The principal medium of advertising is radio, and the commercials have to be written in nine languages.
When you advertise cooking fat, you have to make your recipes fit tribal eating habits; don’t give the Kikuyu recipes for fried fish – they regard fish as snakes.
There are only 30,000 television sets in a population of fourteen million, but mobile cinemas take entertainment to the rural population. In this environment, contests work well. Unilever offers scholarships as prizes. When asked to increase the sales of Vaseline, the Nairobi office of Ogilvy & Mather mounted a contest with a cow as first prize.
In 1978 the Indian Cancer Society used advertising to persuade people to have regular check-ups at its free clinics. The advertisements, by the Bombay office of Ogilvy & Mather, showed real people who had been cured. Within two months the number of check-ups tripled.
Considering the venom with which left-wingers in capitalist countries denounce advertising, you might suppose that Communist countries would eschew this capitalist tool. Not so. The Soviet party line was laid down long ago by Anastas Mikoyan, the old Bolshevik who was in charge of foreign and domestic trade under Stalin and Krushchev:
‘The task of our Soviet advertising is to give people exact information about the goods that are on sale, to help to create new demands, to cultivate new tastes and requirements, to promote the sales of new kinds of goods and to explain their uses to the consumer.’
I could not have said it better myself However, apart from campaigns for good causes like reducing alcoholism, there is little or no advertising in the USSR, although foreign companies are allowed to advertise their industrial products, and there is a state-owned agency, whose officials are courteous, helpful and efficient.
Hungary produces the best advertising in the communist world. There are several agencies and they use not only newspapers and magazines, but also television.
In Hungary, the advertising scene is little different from that in Western Europe. There are several agencies and they advertise in newspapers, magazines and television. There is even a magazine about advertising.
In Czechoslovakia there are two agencies, and they advertise in newspapers and magazines as well as on television and radio. There is also an agency in Poland, but it has filtered out its creative talent, replacing them with bureaucrats.
There is one agency in Romania, and considerable advertising for consumer products. I know nothing about advertising in East Germany or Bulgaria.
Until 1977 advertising in China was considered evil, so there wasn’t any. But in 1978 the government endorsed its use. The advertisements look like specification sheets. There are commercials on Chinese television, most of them for industrial products like electric motors; the waste circulation must be astronomic. There is no need to advertise consumer products, because most of them are in short supply.
In Communist China, advertising has been permitted since 1978.
The most important advertising medium in China is radio, the communal speaker system reaching 75 per cent of the population. The commercials are broadcast twice a day, one after another. There are 40 local newspapers, but they consist of only two sheets and their advertising content is less than 25 per cent. There are 160 magazines, mostly devoted to trade and technical subjects, and there are billboards in the big cities.
There are no less than 67 advertising agencies, of which 17 are responsible for advertising Chinese products in foreign countries, and foreign products in China. Dentsu, the Japanese agency, has small offices in Peking and Shanghai, and McCann-Erickson has an office in Peking.
If I knew anything about advertising in Japan, I would tell you. But I don’t – yet.
In short, while the volume of advertising is still growing in the United States, it is growing faster in the rest of the world, and America is no longer top nation professionally. The tortoises are overtaking the hare.
1In Advertising Inside Out, W.H. Allen, London 1977
