Advertising has been stymieing social mobility and sales growth; the irony is that greed and selfishness has perpetuated these issues while they should be incentivising change
GREED Is oft regarded as an unwelcome trait within business and within society as a whole, it should though be a reason to initiate advertising change.
Amidst the increasing clamour from businesses for accountability, measurability and actionable data, you would think that an increase in knowledge would ensure that advertise seeks to appease consumers with greater depth, versatility and reflection of their lives.
With ads in particular online driven towards either location based and behavioural based consumer traits, the progressive tact would be to ensure that advertising is more accessible and inspirational, not perpetuating the same issues that have blighted progress for generations.
Contemporarily there are still at least 15 million people within the UK alone that cannot access advertising effectively, with accommodation for those impaired in some way void within the mainstream spectrum.
While the ASA has made steps to dismantle the practise of stereotypical advertising with a recent directive, it does not solve the issue of representation and and advertising delivery.
From both a creative and display perspective the technology and knowledge is in place to instil change and development; fear though has led to a miscarriage of creative freedom.
While a select few businesses have engaged in producing advertising campaigns that are both accessible and reflective of the society we live in – Maltesers, Dove, Volvo and Channel 4 to name but a few – the consensus has delivered ads that are creatively trite.
In order to readdress the trajectory of advertising as a whole – which has not been helped by the increasing expenditure within online display – it is in your business’s and wider society’s interest for you to actively encourage your agency, production company or internal team to suggest more diverse and empowering creative ideas.
While greed should have stimulated the desire to create more versatile campaigns, the paradox has remained.
Essentially unexploited consumers are there to be enchanted by your business, yet from both a brand and response perspective, businesses remain entrenched in persisting with the perennial approach.
While ensuring of relative success, your business cannot hope to create the memorable campaign that can deliver an organic multiplier effect.
The more emotive, thus empathetic, your advertising is, the easier it is for your advertising to work hard for your business in the long-term, as a result of the genuine rapport generated.
Amid the latest initiative by Sky to stimulate businesses and agencies alike into producing more diverse and inclusive ads – a prize of £50,000 worth of AdSmart airtime – it is the presence of incentive that is stimulating brands into producing, as Sky call it, ‘braver’ advertising.
Ultimately that is what is needed, but it the requirement of bravery should not be necessary given the commercial and ethical interests of a company being driven by greed.
Through this alone your business should not have to fear inclusive or diverse advertising; as long as it is reflective of society and is underpinned by the society you are displaying to, the place of fear is obsolete and flawed.
Given the circumstances though and the counter-intuitive advertising sphere that has enveloped the creative industry, the irony is that bravery is sadly needed to promote diversity and inclusion within your ads.
As a result though, your business can not only be buoyed by the potential prize of gargantuan amounts of free advertising time, but the publicity also.
Great advertising is naturally rewarded in both a sales sense and from the press.
If it is the relentless pursuit of greed that motivates your company to produce ethical advertising, then great; this should be reason enough to exonerate the advertising industry from the issues that have blighted it for decades.
However if you are determined to increase the reach of your business, ensure of genuine newsworthiness and foster rapport from within, the ethos of your company must embody the movement you are seeking to celebrate.
Thus at the current time with the desire to protect reputations and expedite the advertising process with increasing competition, thanks to the rise in PPC and display campaigns, temporal greed has led to decreased ROI for both businesses and agencies.
By promoting and extolling the virtues of inclusive, diverse and reflective advertising, your business can organically increase ROI and online awareness, beyond the impact of your original media spend, ensuring that the culture of expedited greed will cease in its relevance.
Space City has been producing TV, online and radio adverts for 25 years, working with casting agencies and businesses to promote diversity.
Contact the team now and deliver adverts that could enable you to save at least £50,000 from your annual marketing budget.
