Plugging UK AD

Charlie Saatchi started without any idea of how life was going to surprise him. He founded the largest advertising agency in the world, created some of the most famous and successful ad campaigns in the UK, became a powerful and influential figure in the art world, especially in Britain, opened his own art gallery in London and married Nigella Lawson. Quite impressive, huh? Well, even though this guy is a living legend in the Ad and Art Industry, he manages to maintain a very low profile and protects his privacy from media curiosity.

First Steps in Ad Land

He started as a voucher clerk in a “tiny advertising agency in Covent Garden. (…) one of the advantages of it being a tiny agency is that one day they got desperate when their Creative Department (one young man) was off sick, and they asked me if I could try and make up an ad for one of their clients, Thornber Chicks. This ad was to appear in Farmer & Stockbreeder magazine, and hoped to persuade farmers to choose Thornbers, as their chicks would grow to provide many cheap, superior quality eggs and a fine return. I didn’t know how you write an ad, or indeed how to write anything much more than ‘I will not be late for Assembly’, for which I had been provided much practice. So I looked through copies of Farmer & Stockbreeder and Poultry World, chose some inspiring sounding words and phrases, cobbled them together, stuck on a headline – I think I stole it from and old American advertisement – and produced ‘Ask the man who owns them’ as a testimonial campaign featuring beaming Thornber farmers. The client bought it.” (Charles Saatchi. My Name is Charles Saatchi and I am an Artoholic, Everything You Need to Know about Art, Ads, Life, God and Other Mysteries – and Weren’t Afraid to Ask… 2009. Phaidon Press Limited. London.) His advertising career started from one day to another and he saw himself immersed in this fascinating world so, when he was 22, Charles got an interview with the creative director of Benton & Bowles, Jack Stanley, after failing in every other interview in ad agencies. Fortunately, Stanley hired him and put him to work with John Hegarty. “We hit it off, and even better he was very talented and I would look good bathed in his afterglow.” (Charles Saatchi. My Name is Charles Saatchi and I am an Artoholic, Everything You Need to Know about Art, Ads, Life, God and Other Mysteries – and Weren’t Afraid to Ask… 2009. Phaidon Press Limited. London.) After working for a short time with him, Saatchi and Ross Cramer became a creative duo. Charles was the copywriter and Cramer the art director but after a while, they moved to CDP where they worked for 18 months before creating their own business: Cramer Saatchi. There was no way back (thanks god!).

When remembering this time, Saatchi explains in his book: “I was very lucky to get into CDP in 1966, on the coat-tails of working with Ross Cramer as an art director/copywriter team. (…) The creative director was the dour and reticent Colin Millward, as close to an advertising genius that Britain would produce, and with a magnificent North Country accent. He dismissed my copy-writing efforts as piss-poor, but patiently helped me get better, in what became a delightful relationship. Fortunately for me I also found an ally in David Puttman, a young account manager who at the time was a super-cool Paul McCartney lookalikee, who sold my campaigns to some high profile clients, which did me no harm at all. ”(Charles Saatchi. My Name is Charles Saatchi and I am an Artoholic, Everything You Need to Know about Art, Ads, Life, God and Other Mysteries – and Weren’t Afraid to Ask… 2009. Phaidon Press Limited. London.) Some of these ads are the racy ads for Ford and the ones for Selfridges and Lewi’s.

Going back to Saatchi’s first creative consultancy, Cramer Saatchi won the Health Education Council account thanks to Ross’ child. He was waiting at the school door while talking with another parent who worked at the Council. Luckily, she commented him that they were looking for an ad agency. Soon after that, Cramer Saatchi agency was producing the antismoking campaign for the Health Education Council, which captured a lot of attention and media coverage, and the ad that pushed them up to the sky and is considered to be one of the top 10 British ads of the century: “it’s a strinkingly simple image of a young bloke in a V-necked sweater. His palm rests tenderly on his enormously pregnancy bump as he gazes at the camera with a doleful, resigned expression. The text reads: ‘Would you be more careful if it was you that got pregnant?’ Capturing at once the downside of permissiveness and the nascent women’s liberation movement, the ad presaged the more thoughtful 1970s after the extended party of the sixties.” (Mark Tungate. Adland, a Global History of Advertising. 2007)

Copywriting: “if you wanted something basic and crude you would come to me and hope for the best”. (Charles Saatchi. My Name is Charles Saatchi and I am an Artoholic, Everything You Need to Know about Art, Ads, Life, God and Other Mysteries – and Weren’t Afraid to Ask… 2009. Phaidon Press Limited. London.)

1970 was a crucial moment in his career, Ross Cramer left the agency and Charles’ brother came to replace him: Maurice Saatchi, a very successful young man who left his business, he was part of the relaunching of Campaign (the powerful ad magazine), to start Saatchi & Saatchi with his brother. Wise decision!

“What I adored most about my advertising agency was the fanatical devotion to keeping our clients happy, our desperate longing to have our campaigns succeed for them, and to win as many big accounts as possible”. (Charles Saatchi. My Name is Charles Saatchi and I am an Artoholic, Everything You Need to Know about Art, Ads, Life, God and Other Mysteries – and Weren’t Afraid to Ask… 2009. Phaidon Press Limited. London.)

The new agency became appealing to very talented figures in the industry such us Hegarty (Charles’ ex creative duo), Sinclair, Muirhead, Martin Sorrell and Tim Bell. Moreover, the agency had big dreams and was doing everything to achieve them. In 1975, they signed an agreement with Compton agency in New York which gave Saatchi & Saatchi the chance to reach clients like Mackintosh and Procter & Gamble. The agency grew rapidly and started winning big accounts like the British Airways one.

“I started collecting art before I went into advertising. And anyway, advertising is for the young, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.” (Charles Saatchi. My Name is Charles Saatchi and I am an Artoholic, Everything You Need to Know about Art, Ads, Life, God and Other Mysteries – and Weren’t Afraid to Ask… 2009. Phaidon Press Limited. London.)

However, Charles Saatchi, whose living heroes are “Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird, Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront, Cary Grant in North by Northwest, Burt Lancaster in Sweet Smell of Success and Gary Cooper in High Noon” (Charles Saatchi. My Name is Charles Saatchi and I am an Artoholic, Everything You Need to Know about Art, Ads, Life, God and Other Mysteries – and Weren’t Afraid to Ask… 2009. Phaidon Press Limited. London.), is now focused on the Art Industry but we cannot deny that his actions in the Ad Industry were impressive, different and outstanding. Actually, Charlie Saatchi made an excellent use of strategy and talent to make his way through the Industry and become someone important and famous. He made his ambitions true and even though he fell during the journey, he became stronger and reinvented himself. As it is stated in his book: “Charles Saatchi has been one of the moving forces of the modern age. Founder of the global advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, and the most influential art collector of our time, he has vigorously shaped the contemporary art scene while contradictorily remaining a reclusive, even elusive figure.”

In my opinion, Charles’s life and influence in advertising is a refreshing hope for those of us who are barely starting and dream of being able to keep the vision and the determination to fulfill our ambitions and succeed, at least in a small percentage of what he’s done, in such an interesting, passionate but competitive world.

The UK regulates and controls advertising by voluntary self-regulation. This decision generates a lot of controversy due to the fact that many other countries are against it. They argue that self-regulation is not enough and that legal codes are necessary to provide audiences and consumers with good protection. However, the UK is a striking example of how well this method can work in comparison to the other ones available in the global market.

Different Types of Regulations

There are three different classes of regulations: de-regulation, statutory control and voluntary regulation. De-regulation’s philosophy lies on the idea that you should let the market forces prevail. The market forces would regulate advertising and claims or comparisons must not be misleading since they should be capable of substantiation. Making misleading claims is not good for the brand or product because if they sell something that is not true, consumers will not buy again that product or any other product of that brand. De-regulation states that companies will not sabotage their relationship with consumers and they will not make misleading claims or comparisons and, therefore, there is no need of regulation. On the other hand, it can be argued that regulations are to protect consumers’ interests, and any brands without any reputation to protect can do whatever they want because they do not have relationships with consumers to maintain. On the other hand, statutory control is based on legal codes. The UK’s TV regulator is called OFCOM which looks at the airtime and how it is distributed. It is permitted to have up to 12 minutes per clock hour over a day’s programming, which is relatively restricted compared to other countries. Furthermore, Ofcom also regulates sponsorship arrangements and product placement. However, regarding legal codes and laws, Ofcom outsources clearance to the broadcasters under a company called Clearcast which “role is to assist advertisers and their agencies to ensure that their proposed advertising complies with the relevant laws, regulations and industry codes”. (www.clearcast.co.uk). Every commercial needs to receive a certification of approval from Clearcast before going on air. What is more, this company offers three steps to advertising agencies: it either examines storyboards, scripts and proposals for code compliance or agencies can submit a rough cut for approval or they can just wait until the ad is finished and submitted for mandatory approval. Statistics show that 40 % of the commercials do not go through the first two steps. If the commercial is approved by Clearcast, it goes on air. However, there might be viewers’ complaints after the transmission. They can find the ad offensive, for example. These complaints go to the Advertising Standards Authorities (ASA), which investigates the ad and the complaints can be upheld or rejected. If the complaints are accepted, the ad is going to be cut/withdrawn. On the other hand, some commercials are produced in order to go banned so they can use that as a PR tool or, in some other cases, they are produced to be shown online or only to get a creative award (these are called chip shop ads). Going back to the three types of possible regulations, voluntary regulation system is based on the idea that advertising industry regulates itself. This system offers speed, efficiency, minimal cost, versatility and adaptability.

UK

The UK adopted the last method. Ofcom, which is an autonomous non-governmental organization, delegates the control of ads to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that is also responsible of controlling print and direct marketing advertising. “The ASA is the independent body set up by the advertising industry to police the rules laid down in the advertising codes. The strength of the self-regulatory system lies in the independence of the ASA and the support and commitment of the advertising industry, through the Committee of Advertising Practice codes. The ASA also aims to protect consumers and create a level playing field for advertisers.”(http://www.digital-advertising.co.uk/uk-advertising-compliance-notes.pdf). In addition, the ASA is supervised by the BCAP which is financed by the Ad industry. What is more, Clearcast, as I have already said, is in charge of approving every commercial before it goes on air. Sometimes, this company is blamed for not having a good judgment when complaints are upheld: it is said that it can be over neurotic or literalistic in interpreting the code or too liberal in it. In addition, we can say that the UK voluntary self-regulation method operates ‘post-hoc’ because it relies on complaints from the general public and the ad industry itself. These complaints, as I have already stated, are investigated by ASA and can be upheld or rejected. If they are upheld, the Agency and the advertisers are directed to discontinue or amend the offending material. Moreover, the possible sanctions are: adverse publicity in the ASA bulletins on its web site, the media concerned will put/delete the ads, trading privileges- commission entitlement- are withdrawn and, ultimately, the media puts a block on the advertiser and its agency. The first sanction is not really a punishment because it is said that bad publicity is always good publicity. However, the other three sanctions have hard consequences. Whether the ad continues or not, this relates to the context. Generally, public complaints are based on offensive or misleading claims and advertising industry’s complaints are based on unfair comparative ads.

To conclude, in my opinion the way that advertising is regulated and controlled in the UK works really well owing to the fact that voluntary self-regulation has different virtues that are important to point out. First, the industry is able to publicize itself, which allows them to sell themselves, and is good PR for the advertising industry. Second, there is no necessary legalese. In other words, codes can be written in a simple, easy way to understand language and this shows the intentions behind the rules. There is compliance with the spirit of the code and not just the wording and, by doing this, you avoid people trying to find loop holes to escape and get round the law. Moreover, misleading or offensive ads can be amended or removed more quickly in comparison to legal control which takes longer. Self-regulation makes advertisers remove these ads quicker and they are willing to do it in order to fulfill their PR goals. Complaints are taken really seriously because advertisers do not want to create a negative image with the general audience. Furthermore, it is said that by using voluntary self-regulation you avoid over-restrictive legal controls that may limit creativity. What is more, I think that these virtues are strong enough and that UK voluntary self-regulation works in a smooth way thanks to them. Advertisers care about the business and are willing to take off air any possible threaten to their industry. Image is a wonderful selling tool and advertisers are not going to risk it. That is why this method of regulation works so well, the same industry is covering his back and there are fewer possibilities to make it go wrong because it is just against their will and interests.