The timeless campaign
Late in 2002 I was in Singapore doing some business with Batey, the top ad agency in their corner of the world. At the time they were celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Singapore Girl campaign. That’s not 30 days, or weeks, but 30 years; of running the same campaign for Singapore Airlines – a feat pretty much unheard of here in NZ.
The idea behind the campaign isn’t superb service, even though it often shows the Singapore Girl attending to passengers. It’s showing "the elegance, grace, and charm of the Singapore girl", as the essence of the airline. There’s a whole battery of rules and a campaign surrounding that essence. She’s never shown in a sexually alluring manner, they’ve had top fashion designers put together uniforms, along with a host of other defining components.
A pretty wild idea I bet back when it was created in 1973, but a nice idea all the same. Forget showing the plane, service, destinations, or the price. Singapore at the time was a third world country and Singapore Airlines was their national carrier – time for a new playing field – why not iconize the women of the country?
What a field they created. While airlines around the world have since dropped like flies, piled up losses, and switched campaigns like winter fashions, Singapore Airlines has been profitable every year (except the Sars year). Their status is at the top of world class. They have not only had the vision to run with a radical campaign, but to stick with it through all the doubters that inevitably emerge along the way.
The whole episode reminded me of something I knew clearly when I was younger but for some reason had forgotten. You can only really measure the value of something by how long it lasts. Be it a fishing rod, a car, or a marketing campaign.
But how do you do that? What makes a campaign so powerful it doesn’t wear out? Rather than wax on about tapping into deep psychological undercurrents and the like, Ian Batey the founder of the Batey Agency, recommends some sweeping changes to the industry. One of which I’ll share with you. A man of scurrilous ideas, Mr. Batey suggests restructuring agency and client relationships.
Instead of charging fees as is the case now, he suggests, agencies own the intellectual property within the campaigns. Then agencies rent the campaign to clients. That way, as agencies will own the campaign, they’ll be incentivised to build timeless campaigns. Because the agency will keep getting the benefits so long as the campaign keeps running.
The downside of this is likely to upfront cost, in research and development, and higher risk. On the upside though, it’s something that could be cost effective for the clients, lift energy going into the work, and a ensure a stronger stream of new thinking flows to clients.
On the whole, it’s an idea worth sharing. Who knows, 30 years into the future, there may be anniversaries in New Zealand, like for Singapore Girl, to celebrate long-lasting successful agencies, campaigns, and clients.
Article written in 2003
Roger Parker is a Director of research firm New River.
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