The big challenge for ad agencies

It is to take advantage of the fact that South Africa wallows somewhere down at the bottom of the global barrel when it comes to service.

Must one assume that every client briefing to an agency includes the instruction that under no circumstances should any advertising be permitted to commit the manufacturer, retailer or service provider to anything that might come flying back in their faces?

Probably not. The thing is, no-one has given a thought to really putting an advertisers' reputation on the line.

Shrugs and apathy

It goes beyond that. How many times has an agency seen a truly great campaign fall apart because of distribution snafus preventing the product being on the shelves when the campaign has broken; when retailers or dealers haven't read their bulletins about upcoming ad campaigns and answer customer inquiries with shrugs and apathy; when the service the customer gets from the bank, insurance company, timeshare outfit,etc just isn't anywhere remotely near what the ads claimed it would be?

It happens more often than not.

With the result that when the advertising promise is not kept by the people at the coalface, the campaign withers and dies.

So, this opportunity is not just there for the agency that has the guts to stand up to its client and insist on including something in the ad that will act as a firecracker up the backsides of those who have to deliver the goods, but it should be something every agency should think about purely from the point of view of wanting to be effective.

Promises, promises

What I'm talking about is advertising in which the client promises to do something. Advertising that commits retailers, dealers, service providers to a specific course of action.

For example, how often does it happen with the launch of a new car? After a few months down the line when all the hype has worn off? Expensive ads go to inordinate lengths to catch the eye of a prospective buyer and cajole him or her to call in at their nearest dealer for a test drive? It's damn difficult to achieve that. How disappointing when the excited and enthusiastic potential customer does exactly that only to be greeted by a salesman who doesn't bother to take his feet off his desk, let alone stand up and who says, "Sorry I don't have any demo vehicles right now, come back tomorrow."

What I'm suggesting is that somewhere on the ad should be something that lights a fire under the salesman. Something like: "If your nearest dealer doesn't immediately arrange a test drive call me, give me his name" - signed by the MD.

Now the reason no MD will agree to that is because they're worried about having to answer the customer hotline all day. But the point is the phone won't ring because when, there is something potentially career-inhibiting like that in an ad, salesmen will a) get to hear about it one way or the other and b) make damn sure they don't have their feet on the desk while an irate customer is dialling the MD on his cellphone.

While advertising is great at persuading customers to do things, they all fall flat when it comes to motivating sales people.

Motivation in ads

There are myriad more examples. Hotel ads that offer free accommodation if service isn't up to scratch. But not a generalised sort of statement - it needs to be specific: if reception is not up to scratch, if room service doesn't deliver within 10 minutes - something measurable.

Service providers, in particular those that invite business by telephone, stand to benefit the most by including this sort of motivation in their advertising.

The trick is to do it in such a way that guilty parties can't point fingers. Even to the point, where possible, of including the names and perhaps even photos of front-line managers and service people in advertisements.

Potential is limitless

Of course it has been done before in this country but in a rather non-committal way. Where people can call toll-free or consumer "hot lines" if service is not up to scratch. But in every case it has been too generalised. The company as such has elected to carry the can.

What needs to happen is that individuals need to be affected. Jobs need to be put on the line. Careers need to be a stake.

Whoever gets going first will make a gigantic leap forward in terms of holding the marketing high ground. The trick is to get going before everyone is doing it. In itself not a bad thing - in fact this should be a national objective. The point is that whoever gets in first will make a mint; those who follow will simply survive.