Advertising might work, who’d a thunk it? | Brand Republic Feature

We’re in the midst of man bird pig flu panic. We all ignored the letters from our GPs. Seems fair really, they do tend to ignore our requests for appointments. But the result is men, women and children are dropping like flies around us.

Now some bright spark in the government has suddenly had an epiphany. Maybe, just maybe, the reason people didn’t get their jabs is because they pulled the TV advertising.

No really? Dammit. You mean advertising might actually work? Honestly, next you’ll be telling me the Pope is apparently Catholic and bears do, well never mind the bears..

Our industry is under constant scrutiny, from society in general and equally from within too. And it’s the age-old claim, you hear it all the time “Advertising doesn’t work on me”. Is that really the case? The fact is advertising does work. It won’t make you buy something you don’t want.

It won’t make you vote for someone you never would. But it will still alert you to the things that might, should or would interest you. Advertising drives your curiosity, and develops the notion of need. But it has to be relevant. The flu jab campaigns are a classic example of this. You could argue that the power of TV advertising is far from dead, rather it still sits at the heart of most integrated campaigns.

Or may be I’ve got a bad head cold, what do you think?