[Orchids & Onions] Jacobs ad enhances the flavour of the brew

Up until then I had never been a real coffee fan, because we were raised, in our house, in the British colonial tea tradition. But it was that aroma which hooked me – and now I have two cups of black coffee every day before I leave for work.

These days, I use good quality instant coffee – even though a visitor from Europe a few years back looked at us as though we were savages for merely having the bottle in the house (Nespresso for her, it seems…) – and the Jacobs brand is a family favourite. More than a little of that is because of its aroma – it smells exactly like the breakfast room of a European hotel in the morning.

Jacobs has a TV ad, which is not new, but it still captures the powerful effect of that aroma.

We see a man waking up to the aroma and, half asleep, following his nose – through the city and over cars and trucks – as he heads to the Coffee Promised Land. He ends up sipping a coffee and gradually coming fully awake – at a stranger’s breakfast table.

But, as an embarrassed look flits across his face, there are smiles all round and the news that coffee brings people together.

It is seldom that the visceral, basic sense of smell is used in an advertising setting – and in this case, it is done so well, you can almost take in the aroma yourself. An Orchid to Jacobs.

© Aleksandr Zamuruev – 123RF.com

The marketing and brand experts tell us that, increasingly, consumers are expecting more and more social accountability from the brands they support. That means, in some cases, that the brand puts something back (via charitable work, perhaps) into the community where it makes its money. In other cases, it means brands should look after the planet and act responsibly when it comes to those environmental matters.

It goes without saying, of course, that no brand – or its employees – should be seen to be breaking the law.

Yet, every day, especially in this lawless place we call South Africa, I see more and more brands doing just that.

In the past week, I have seen three examples, in my neighbourhood, of brands (or their employees) blatantly flouting the law.

Example One:

The WesBank car finance house (part of the FNB/First Rand group) opened a massive headquarters in Fairland some years ago. You would have thought that traffic planning would have been included in the project – but it clearly wasn’t as is plainly evident from the traffic jams which have ensued in the vicinity of Beyers Naudé Drive, particularly as workers head home in the evening.

There are two filter lanes (which become one) to facilitate access to Beyers Naudé, yet the WesBank employees have now also turned a straight-only lane, which crosses Beyers Naudé, into a turning lane. It is illegal.

What does this have to do with WesBank, you may ask. Well, firstly, its employees are breaking the law and doing so brazenly. I can understand why they do so: the traffic planning is wholly inadequate. I do not see why, given the illegal behaviour, that WesBank cannot come to an arrangement where that illegal extra lane is made legal. It wouldn’t cost more than a couple of hundred thousand to do.

A small price to pay to stop your brand from being associated with lawless behaviour, I would have thought.

Example Two:

The Sunday Times runs a Generation Next show – and its poster company has been putting up huge posters, illegally, on traffic signs in the vicinity of a school in Northcliff.

This is simply illegal: no posters of any form are allowed on traffic signs. Check the Roads Act. And to put them up around a school, where there is a considerable danger of a pupil being hit by the driver of a car paying attention to the poster, instead of the road.

Example Three:

The security company which operates in our area, Beagle Watch, had a promotional drive the other day. But they illegally parked their vehicles in the middle of a traffic circle obstructing the view of approaching drivers.

Not only that, but they stationed their uniformed security personnel in the circle, flagging down motorists to hand out flyers. That conduct could well have led to bumper bashings and was an abuse of Beagle Watch’s position of trust – when people see a security officer beckoning them to do something, they are inclined to do so.

So, Onions for damaging your own brand to WesBank, the Sunday Times and Beagle Watch.

By the way, if anyone is looking for the Generation Next posters, they should check out the rubbish bins at Northcliff High School…

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