First, the pages of the big book flipping in the wind caught my attention. Then, the curtain flapping in the breeze at the open window. It looked a bit haunting in the murky darkness of the room. Then, as the camera zoomed to the book of flipping pages of lists, the voice of the announcer intrigued even more.
“Tradition says there are always two lists,” she said. “A list for the nice. And a list for the naughty. Every year, children all over the world are scribbled down on one side or the other.”
The voiceover went on to say there was one place nearby, however, where children were neither good nor bad. “But rather brave. Courageous children who face the unimaginable. Theirs are the names etched on the brave list!”
Some may have recognized the TV spot by now. It’s an advertisement for the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, a.k.a SickKids. More accurately this kind of advertisement is considered a public service announcement. The images of children being wheeled into operating rooms, bandaged to the hilt, attached to all manner of hospital paraphernalia, or recuperating in busy hospital wards, are so captivating and real. And sympathetic.
One can’t help but be moved. For my money (and that, after all, is the objective of the 30-second PSA, to get me to donate) the SickKids “brave list” ad is the most thoughtful, visually captivating and effective piece of media persuasion I’ve seen this year.
As the days have ticked down to the holidays, just about everywhere we go – into malls (if they’re open during the pandemic), big box stores, boutique shops on our main streets, or to our favourite media outlets (radio, TV and social media) – we’re bombarded by ads on paper, on screens, on speakers.
Whether they’re hard-selling furniture stores where every price seems to end in a “99,” or car and truck manufacturers telling us their product is the most advanced on “going forward,” or smart-phone companies showing us how their hip technology can photograph, make a movie, text the world and look the sexiest, it’s all about getting us to buy, buy, buy. (Interesting, isn’t it, that none of the cellphone advertisers ever sell the notion of making a successful phone call as a saleable attraction. Kind of essential, don’t you think?)
I’ve always thought the effectiveness of a pitch corresponds directly with the intelligence of the advertiser. And we’ve certainly been exposed to a lot of ads lately. For the past two years, we’ve spent most of our days and nights self-isolated in front of our TV, computer and cellphone screens.
In our household, we’ve watched a lot of news and current affairs programs over the past 24 months. And along with news coverage of COVID on the air, for example, we’ve watched probably twice or three times as much TV as in a normal year.
Correspondingly, advertisers have spent two or three times as much trying to get our attention. Take for example the U.S. insurance industry. According to the S&P Global marketing analysis, the major insurance firms – Progressive, State Farm, Allstate, Liberty Mutual, Farmers, etc. – spent on average 20 per cent more on ads in 2020 than in 2019.
Progressive, for example, laid out nearly $2 billion in ads. And what did that $2 billion buy? An ad whose catch line is, “Progressive can’t save you from becoming your parents, but we can save you money when you bundle home and auto with us.” I’m no marketing genius, but how does preventing me from becoming my parents attract me to their coverage?
Closer to home and even less persuasive during the pandemic were the Intact Insurance ads aired in Canada. One series of spots showed an insurance broker trainee watching a car dropped by a crane from 50 feet in the air to the pavement below, smashing the car to bits. “How does that make you feel?” the Intact trainer asks the trainee. “Sad,” the trainee says. “Congrats. You’ve just completed your empathy training.”
It wasn’t long after that ad aired that I called Intact, complained and cancelled my auto and house coverage with them.
On the positive side, I’ve recently caught the Scotiabank “Hockey For All” ads on TV. One portion of the ad shows a youngster who’s Asian as the critical voiceover asks, “Do they even have ice in China?” Another claims, “Women’s hockey is just boring!” And when the anti-diversity voice says, “Go back to where you belong,” P.K. Subban responds at a press conference mike, “This, this is where we belong!”
I can’t say whether the ad will get me to bank with them. But I certainly applaud the intelligent and worldly attitude of their ad agency.
