Advertising in a recession

Given the current economic doom and gloom, advertisers might be forgiven for looking over their shoulders as marketing budgets take more than their share of cuts. Yet there is hope and potential real opportunity, as a recent TV news item indicated.

A well-respected UK advertising honcho was interviewed for the outlook for recessionary advertising. One of the interesting things he pointed out was the plethora of innovative advertising in the 1980s dip, where well-remembered ad series were born, such as the Andrex toilet tissue puppy and the Tango orange drink. These two adverts show the importance of feel-good factor when times are tough. When it is hard out there, people want to forget reality and be cosseted and entertained.

The Andrex Retriever puppy is a soft, like the product, offering a visceral link. The ads told gentle stories, such as the young boy sitting on the toilet who happily tangles the pup in the tissue. But then the puppy runs off, unravelling the entire roll, leaving the boy with no paper, calling 'Mum!!'. The runaway also of course shows how the tissue is 'soft, strong and very long'.

The Tango ad on the other hand used wacky madness to inject irreverent (though irrelevant) fun into the product. The scene would be a person drinking Tango on the street when an apparently-invisible orange-coloured and strangely-dressed person scuttles up and slaps the drinker, who looks rather surprised. The voiceover then says, cheerfully, 'You know when you've been Tangoed!'

One warm and funny, the other nutty and funny. There's a trend here and perhaps advertisers should take note and drop the reality, facts and science in favour of stories, fun and entertainment

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