LONDON - The Department for Children, Schools and Families has called a pitch to find a creative agency to develop a campaign promoting its Youth Alcohol Action Plan.
Wieden & Kennedy, Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R, VCCP and Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy will pitch for the business through COI.
The campaign aims to influence the attitudes and behaviour of children, young people and their parents and carers towards alcohol.
The DCSF called a communications planning pitch for the business earlier this month, with Manning Gottlieb OMD, Naked Communications and Starcom MediaVest pitching for the account.
Yet another total waste of tax payers money. Another COI campaign that will probably fail because it starts in the wrong place. The pitch list are typical TV driven agencies and we all know that that's a waste of public money as it doesn't change anything.
They'd be far better working with a digital agency who are more in tune with young people than middle aged ad agencies. Or why not give our hard earned taxes to those charities already working in this area. These agencies will just spend the money on lots of keyhole research, produce glossy campaigns to win awards and leave our kids to carry on drinking.
COI is too busy trying to make Mr Brown look good, a propaganda machine for politicians.
Latest figures out today show the government have failed to reduce gun & knife crime. Another failed campaign along with drugs and sexual health. My advice, save money, stop spending our tax payers money on ad campaigns and give the money to those who know what they are doing.
Did you see last nights TV ptog by Nick Ross on the true state of crime? Shocking.
I can sympathise with some of your rhetoric but giving the money to charities? If you're looking for a density of middle-aged, middle class, self-interested muddlers... They'd spend all the money on a fund-raising campaign.
Dear Darian - may I point you to the huge amount of wasted COI money spent through digital agencies creating 'innovative', web-based dramas etc. Huge amounts of investment, bugger all 'viewers'. Maybe, the COI has woken up to the snake oil salesmanship of many of you digital boys. As ever, the answer is not black and white; there are powerful, complementary roles for off and online channels.
I agree to an extent with Darian. TV does seem to be the default media of choice for the COI, and the fact that they have increased spend massively in a market that is shrinking either shows opportunistic deal-making at best, or charity for media-owners at worst. Yes, a great TV ad campaign can shock and great mass awareness, but to change people's behaviour, people need relevance, incentive and a real connection. The best way to do this is to start with brand experience, both on and offline. If the COI was serious about this, they should be talking to integrated, digital and BTL agencies too.
Woah. Some pretty sweeping statements in the above, both about the agencies in question and about 'effectiveness'...
Darian, let me guess - Daily Mail reader?
I don't read newspaper, I get all my news on line. Get with the times GD.
Nice to have a lively debate for a change. One of the key debates is 'are we living in a nanny state'? Did we elect these aged politicians to mother us? Isn't it time society took responsibility? The government can't do anything effectively, proven by their own comments about the Post Office "We think I'd be better run by the private sector." Governments are no good at running social change campaigns, proven by the fact they turn to traditional ad agencies and say 'were going to do an ad campaign. That's using the wrong tool to solve the problem. Thinking about the people in COI and government, do you imagine they have a clue about how to reduce underage drinking? If you want a solution you need to get the youth to come up with it not middle aged, middle class ad men, civil servants and politicians. My prediction, in three years underage drinking will be worse, 9 million spent, society poorer, ad agencies richer, Daily Mail headline, 'another government campaign fails'. Mark my words.
@ Darian - "Isn't it time society took responsibility?" Who do you think society is? We all are "society" - and just think about how responsible you and all your friends are \(I don't mean this as a personal jibe, think of everyone you've ever met). Saying society should take responsibility is ridiculous because it's made up of individual people all trying to have as much of a good time as everyone else. We all follow common ideas which we absorb as part of our culture, and in England our culture is drinking based. So how is a massive set of diverse individuals meant to take responsibility as a collective against what we all think is 'normal' without someone telling them to? Surely this is what advertising is about - spreading messages to change people's minds? Just because the ads that are made will undoubtedly suck and miss the point, doesn't mean it's not worth trying :)
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