PROBLEMS INTO OPPORTUNITIES (PT 2)

 

 

I usually start a talk about advertising with the basics of creativity, i.e., turning a problem into an opportunity.

The three campaigns where good advertising started did just this, they are VW, Avis, and Levy’s.

The problem is they are a) American and b) a long time ago.

So, is there anything more relatable for English ad-people?

Well there aren’t any recent examples, we seem have forgotten how to do it, currently we think creative is synonymous with weird.

But there are four very creative campaigns that are a) English and b) not too long ago, that can teach us how to turn a problem into an opportunity.

1) When Abbott Mead was pitching on Sainsbury’s, the brief was to grow revenue by £3 billion over two years, tough brief.

The problem was most shoppers have their preference formed by store location.

So how do you get enough shoppers to switch supermarkets to make up that £3 billion growth?

It seemed impossible until the planner  turned the problem into an opportunity.

He said, “I’ve been looking at the numbers and I don’t think we need to attract any new customers.

Sainsbury’s get 14 million store-visits a week, there are 50 weeks in a year, so multiply 14 million by two and divide it into £3 billion and it comes to £1.50.

That means if we could get our existing shoppers to spend an average £1.50 extra per visit we’d hit that target without needing a single new customer.”

And that was the brief they gave to the creative dept.

The creatives wrote a campaign with Jamie Oliver demonstrating recipes, saying “Try something different”, whether it’s nutmeg, cinnamon, coriander, ginger, etc.

The average spend per basket went up and they hit their £3 billion target.

All by turning a problem into an opportunity.

2) At Saatchi, British Airways had a different problem.

They needed to improve their image amongst travellers, and morale amongst staff.

They were Britain’s national airline but they were only the 5^th biggest, after United, American, Delta, and Aeroflot.

So how do you turn that problem into an opportunity?

Saatchi looked at the numbers and found although those airlines were bigger they were mainly domestic: United, American, and Delta flew mainly inside the USA; Aeroflot flew mainly inside the USSR.

British Airways was smaller, but it had more international routes than the others.

Which enabled Saatchi to make the claim: “More people fly to more places with us than any other airline.  British Airways – the World’s favourite airline”

Simply by turning a problem into an opportunity.

3) CDP had a different problem with Benson & Hedges cigarettes.

The government wouldn’t let them say or show anything attractive in their advertising, plus they had to run a banner across the bottom of every poster:

WARNING BY H M Government: SMOKING CAN DAMAGE YOUR HEALTH.

So CDP turned the problem into an opportunity, they didn’t use any words at all and they didn’t show anything aspirational, just ordinary things in a stylish, artistic way.

Each poster became a surrealist work of art featuring the colour gold, because that was B&H’s colour.

They didn’t even need to say what the product was, the health warning at the bottom did that for them.

That poster campaign was so stylish and unusual it changed advertising by introducing surrealist art as a new way of thinking.

All by turning a problem into an opportunity.

4) HHCL had a different problem when they were advertising the AA.

The law said motorists already had to pay for road tax, insurance, and MOT.

The AA was just an extra cost they didn’t need.

But HHCL found the market had changed, from mainly men, who could change a puncture roadside, to women and young families.

In which case any roadside breakdown, particularly at night, was obviously much more serious.

So HHCL changed the strapline to: The AA – The 4^th Emergency Service.

Comparing it the Police, Fire-Brigade, and Ambulance, the services everyone relied on to get them out of trouble when things went wrong.

That changed the perception of the AA from a luxury to a necessity, by turning a problem into an opportunity.

That’s what we should be doing, any time we can turn a problem into an opportunity it gives us an advantage over people who can’t do that.

That’s the difference, that’s what creativity is.