Someone closely involved with COI Communications once told me that one of the most irritating problems they had to deal with was Cabinet ministers who wanted their ads to appear in the centre break of News at Ten. Bugger the money, bugger the audience profile - the politicians just wanted their ads to be seen by their peers and the political chattering classes.
Perhaps, unfairly, I always felt this was the case with Saatchi & Saatchi's nurses recruitment TV campaign designed to attract former nurses. Surely, I reasoned, since the names and addresses of former nurses would be held by the Royal College of Nursing, a direct mail campaign would be just as effective. 'Ah,' a wise head said, 'you may be right, but the point was to be seen to address the problem. It's as much about PR as it is about recruitment.'
News at Ten may be gone now but who cares when, as with last week, the government publicity machine can persuade the BBC's Nine O'Clock News to run a story on the new police recruitment campaign by M&C Saatchi, which must be the first time we've seen an item about a new advertising campaign in that venerable programme. The fact that the campaign is deemed to be controversial (by whom is not yet clear) no doubt assisted the BBC's news judgment.
I don't think it is that controversial, but it is a very powerful and well-executed piece of work. What is interesting is the way, by showing that the job is not just about catching criminals, it plays to our altruistic tendencies.
Normally, I'm sceptical about the value of an advertising proposition that appeals to people's better nature. The fact that one-time mutual financial institutions (a classic example of beneficial and communal altruism) are converting, handing out large sums of money to members, illustrates the point exactly. Money, greed, instant gratification - those are the buttons that advertising can best seem to push.
And yet, if you look at recent recruitment campaigns in the public sector (the nurses, teachers, even some for the Army, and now the police), there is a common theme: altruism. By tapping into our latent desire to help others, they address a basic instinct.
You could say, of course, that given the low salary levels in the public sector, the police, nurses and teachers don't have much choice.
I'm not sure that I agree. There are plenty of other potential propositions around to attract recruits: self-satisfaction, personal development, machismo, excitement, danger or some kind of latent authoritarianism. And yet those seem to be less motivating than the simple opportunity to help others.
And that's another interesting theme all these ads have in common. By stressing the public service angle, they will alienate some recruits.
The Metropolitan Police Federation claimed the ads could put recruits off. Isn't that the point? The idea of these campaigns is as much about the quality of recruit as about quantity. What the police don't want is people attracted by some misplaced notion of glamour. Policing is as much Dixon of Dock Green as it is strutting around in uniforms telling people what to do. Isn't it?
dominic.mills@haynet.com.
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