Dr. Vicki Arbes: If government ads get creative, they’ll win hearts and minds
Despite the inevitable party political bickering about the misuse and waste of taxpayer funds, modern governments rely on mass communication channels, and this is not about to change, says Dr. Vicki Arbes, chief executive of Hall & Partners | Open Mind, in today’s SMH.
Government campaigns differ from political campaigns: being taxpayer- rather than party-funded, they must show a clear community benefit and satisfy accountability requirements. Yet they also must ”sell” an idea, argument or course of action, just as commercial advertisers do. The difference is the till doesn’t have to ring at the end of the ”sale”.
5 Comments
The real problem with government advertising is that the number one priority is the perception of doing something, rather than actually doing it to achieve the intended goal.
The other thing is that research groups play the part of Creative Director, because everything goes through research. This is the government’s way of removing accountability (i.e. “We didn’t get it wrong; research told us…”)
As long as this type of approach is in place, creativity will never be the priority in Government advertising.
Very true, 9.44. I’ve worked on a number of government pitches in the last few months and ended up dumbing down the work for research. The sooner they stop letting research decide the better but I ‘m not sure a bureaucrat in Canberra is going to make a better decision in the end.
Maybe Canberra need to hire a Mark Collis.
And how, Dr. Arbes, are you helping achieve this aim rather than being a core part of the problem by being responsible for research that consistently strips ideas of their creativity?
‘If government ads get creative they’ll win hearts and minds.’ Doesn’t this apply to everyone? It’s like saying when you slap some meat between two pieces of bread you get a sandwich.
As someone who has worked for many years in Government marketing – this is not through lack of trying. The powers that be stifle creativity at every opportunity using the simple methodology – that isn’t how we have done things in the past or that is too crazy for a government campaign.