Put agency name on TV spots to improve quality

There was a time that when the subject of TV ads was raised at a dinner party, at least an hour of animated discourse would follow on everyone's favourite ads. Nowadays, the immediate reaction of guests is to look vague as they desperately try and remember some ad they have seen on TV and then carrying on animated conversations about electricity outages and the Machiavellian machinations of politics.

Brain drain

A lot of people tend to blame this decline of great TV advertising on the brain drain of creatives from South Africa but I disagree. South African creatives are world-class and as good as ever.

Any number of factors are impacting on ad quality today. Not the least of which is an ad agency management not having the balls to stand up to clients. If any brain drain is affecting advertising, it is the flight of top class brand managers from this country.

Advertising intelligence at brand management level is on average pretty dismal to say the least. Which mean that agencies often have to choose between doing what a naive client wants, even though it's completely wrong, or losing the account.

On top of this, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of South Africa is making it very difficult for anyone to push any sort of envelopes or stand out from the crowd for fear of upsetting some old tannie in Bredasdorp. And when ads are pulled by the ASA these days, clients invariably make the agencies pay. So, small wonder they are treading carefully and conservatively.

Fewer viewers

Now, with international research showing fewer and fewer viewers watching commercial breaks, there is a danger that TV advertising – the Cinderella of the ad world – will simply become as boring the rapidly diminishing classified sections of newspapers.
The ad industry has for a number of years been threatening to actually do something about improving ad quality and selling itself to both business and the public as important contributors to the economy. But, so far it has just been talk and more talk.

Perhaps it is time for the TV channels to get involved. After all, they cannot simply sit back and watch their lifeblood ebbing away.

An easy way for TV channels to improve ad quality is to insist that all TV commercials carry the ad agency's name for at least a few seconds at the end.
A lot of countries allow and insist on this. And up till now the only reason I can see that it was not allowed here was because the TV channels probably quite rightly felt that production houses and ad agencies were being paid quite sufficiently, if not excessively, to produce ads and had no reason to need free publicity on air.

Ensuring quality

But, it is not about free publicity. It is now all about ensuring consistent quality.

Have a look through the newspapers any day of the week. Notice how really great creative ads always almost carry the ad agencies' key numbers and names at the bottom or on the side.

Bad ads just have a key number and no agency name. Every wondered why?

Clearly the ad agency concerned is embarrassed and really doesn't want its name associated with an ad so hacked about by the clients.

But, if TV channels insist that all ads carry the ad agency and maybe even production house names, you can be sure that a lot of ad agencies and production houses would be a lot more forceful with their clients in terms of fighting against having the impact of ads diminished by clients not willing to push boundaries and take risks .

Which is essential, because any company today that is not prepared to take risks will simply not survive.