COMMENT: If likeable ads work, why don't agencies produce such ads?

<p>I like advertising. This may seem like a strange thing for a </p><p>marketing journalist to say. But then I'm a strange marketing </p><p>journalist. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>And the reason I say it is so that you won't read the following and </p><p>think: "Ah-ha, a jaded and cynical old business hack who's seen too much </p><p>advertising and is sick to the back teeth of it." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Because I really do like advertising. I just hate most ads. Why? Because </p><p>most ads hate me. They hate me as a consumer - they talk down to me, </p><p>treat me with contempt and condescension, and seem to assume that if </p><p>they tell me to like something enough times in a loud enough voice, I'll </p><p>obediently start liking it. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>But ads that show contempt for the consumer are dangerous. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>This struck me a few weeks ago, when we were sent a press release about </p><p>a piece of research by a major advertising agency, which had found that </p><p>ads were more likely to be effective if people liked them. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>That much seemed pretty self-evident to me, and I had a bit of a scoff, </p><p>until I talked to someone at the agency who pointed out that if it's so </p><p>obviously true, why is so much advertising boring, patronising and </p><p>unimaginative? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Perhaps it's part of a culture of doing things the same way as before, </p><p>because That's The Way It's Done. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In certain markets, that's what clients are willing to buy. But that's </p><p>not really an excuse. What clients ought to want, and what agencies need </p><p>to make them realise they need, is to be challenged. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>One way of doing this is with advertising that people actually like. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>I live in Hong Kong, and I can't think of a single ad I've seen on </p><p>either domestic or regional TV here that I've genuinely liked, that has </p><p>charmed me, made me smile, generated affinity, made me feel good about </p><p>the brand. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Instead, they choose to yell at me. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>But at a certain point, advertisers will have to wake up to the fact </p><p>that repeatdly battering down the walls of the viewer's cerebellum isn't </p><p>going to work any more. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>And as media fragments and consumers become ever more difficult to </p><p>reach, it's going to be increasingly subject to the law of diminishing </p><p>returns -shouting a lot will become less and less effective. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The level of intelligence with which advertisers and agencies credit </p><p>consumers varies throughout Asia. And it can reflect the way they see </p><p>themselves and their work. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>It's no coincidence that markets with a strong advertising industry, </p><p>where it's held in high esteem as a profession that people really want </p><p>to work in, tend to produce likeable advertising that treats consumers </p><p>with respect; where advertising is regarded as hack work, struggles to </p><p>attract good people and operates on ever-tightening margins, repetitive, </p><p>derivative shouty advertising rules. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The advertising industry is holding a mirror up to itself, and sometimes </p><p>the relfection isn't pretty. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>