It would appear that The Halifax have finally got wind of the fact that the we are having a bit of a tough time of it out in the real world. I say this because, as you'll have noticed, the advertising campaign featuring staff having a right old laugh at 'Radio Halifax' have finally been put to rest. Instead, the fun-loving financiers have now been brought together to give us an altogether more toned-down rendition of 'I'll be there'.
Now I'm tempted to suggest that if they really wanted to win hearts and minds, getting back behind the counter and putting the music careers on hold until the economy perks up a bit mightn't be a bad idea. The move to a more recessive staff presence in the new advertising (there's only 100 of them in the featured choir) may go some way to convince us that all is well again at The Halifax. It's possibly less convincing for the remaining staff that didn't make it into the choir - they're probably having to do double-shifts to cover for their singing chums who are now preparing for X Factor.
Whether or not you think the new advertising is an improvment on what has gone before, and I do, it is probably unfair to lay responsibility at the door of the incumbent advertising agency. One imagines that 'staff' remain a large element of the advertising brief.
There's a long history of staff and clients appearing in ads - who can forget Victor Kiam doing his best Leslie Nielsen impersonation. So let's not leap to judge. Instead, let's take the opportunity to enjoy this well-known advertising truism which sums up the issue of clients appearing in ads most eloquently,
“If the client moans and sighs,
make his logo twice the size.
If he still should prove refractory,
show a picture of his factory.
Only in the gravest cases,
should you show your client’s faces.”
Amen.
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