[Orchids & Onions] A pat on the back to these sharp pencils

That's because the companies are often low-key in terms of their profiles (unless they are banks) and they are also constrained by a fair amount of legislation as to what they can and can't say and - most important - what they can and can't promise their clients.

Also, with all due respect to accountants and the like, striking imagery is just not their thing.

Your typical accounting image... © Kurhan – 123RF.com

So, it is not often that a financial services ad stands out - or even jumps out at you. I was quite surprised this week when one did, right off the pages of Business Report.

It was for an outfit called Towers Watson, who deal in benefits, risk and financial services and talent and rewards. To be honest, I had never heard of them, but it was the image accompanying the ad which had the power to arrest.

It was a simple photo of four pencils - three blunt and one sharp. With that catching the eye, it was a simple next move to look at the copy below. This read (in cursive writing): "We work with precision" and, below that (in normal print characters), "to provide the flexible services you need".

The message was simple: when it comes to financial services and advice, we are the sharpest pencil in the box.

So it gets this week's Orchid.

While the Towers Watson ad gets straight to the point about expertise in financial services, I am at a loss to explain a) Why Standard Bank sponsors the Iron Man athletic event in the first place and b) why it keeps running the expensive TV ads related to it?

One of those ads features an exhausted woman pushing herself on to (presumably) athletic glory, with her husband's slightly condescending voice in the background.

Before I get on to the reason I am giving this ad (and others in the series) a marketing Onion - and well aware I might get hate mail from triathletes out there - let me explain that I have nothing against events like the Iron Man and triathlons in particular. I was once, for three years in a row, the top triathlete in Namibia (winning the local section of the Old Mutual Namib triathlon)... true story.

But even I acknowledge that triathlons, as a sport, have a very small participant base. And frankly, because of the length of events like the Iron Man, there is a limited spectator base, either on site or on TV.

So, quite why Standard Bank would think that pouring millions of rand into such a niche area is beyond me. As is whatever the link is between the brand and the Iron Man.

But what it really raises is the question of return on investment (that increasingly important measurement of how effective an ad campaign is). I wonder whether the repeated, expensive TV ads do anything for Standard Bank in marketing terms. So, an Onion from me...

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