Hearts & Minds: Use comms nous to avoid ad missteps

New Zealand has a problem. Record numbers of New Zealanders are moving overseas. At the same time, the country’s public service suffering wide-ranging cuts.

In a bid to persuade Australians to spend their holidays there, the New Zealand government has launched an ad campaign to run on Aussie radio and social media. The tag line is ‘Everyone must go!’ According to Louise Upston, the tourism minister:

‘What this Tourism New Zealand campaign says to our Aussie mates is that we’re open for business, there are some great deals on, and we’d love to see you soon.’ No. It sounds like a directive to emigrate. It also suggests a clearance sale. It’s tone-deaf. Hopeless.

The adverts have been derided. That has not stopped the government from insisting they’re okay. Upston is ‘very pleased’ with the positive feedback from holiday operators and ‘a marketing expert’. Ah, a marketing expert, not a comms expert.

So, Tourism New Zealand joins a long list of advertising disasters, such as: ‘Nothing sucks like an Electrolux’ from Electrolux, of course; ‘You can never be too thin’ (Pretzels); ‘Cheat on your girlfriend, not your workout’ (Reebok). On it goes, a rollcall of ridicule, wasted money and yes, reputational damage.  

If only they’d hired decent copywriters. If only, too, they’d put the words through the comms wringer. What do follies like these really say? That theirs is an organisation in which right does not speak to left, where teams exist in silos and the head, the sign-off, is blinded by the excited noise from the marketing folks. Were the comms advisors in the meeting? Almost certainly not or if they were, it was too late.

Comms people see the world differently from the ad lot. They’re used to stepping back and looking at something every which way, putting themselves in the place of critics, in the media and social media, asking how will this be perceived, what will the reaction be? It’s second nature to them. That’s what their excellent at, twisting and turning and dissecting. Think of all that expense, time and pain that those advertisers could have saved. Involve the comms specialists. Come on. ‘You know it makes sense’ (UK seatbelt safety).

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard.