Nixed messages

Illustrator and designer Wong Mau-lun cringes as he watches an anti-smoking commercial from the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health on television. Released in June, it features a choir of different characters, from robed spa customers to karaoke singers, urging a young smoker to quit his habit. 'You can do it!' the choir sings. 'You can do it, you can do it, you can do it, just quit!'

Wong rolls his eyes. 'What was that?' says the 24-year-old former smoker, joking that the ad makes him want to reach for a cigarette instead.

Every year the government fills the airwaves with millions of dollars worth of tax-funded advertising (last year, they took up more than 1,340 hours of television time and 164 hours on radio). Known as announcements in the public interest, or APIs, they aim to inspire, motivate and improve society.

A Family Council commercial launched in April, for instance, tries to promote domestic harmony by depicting an overworked father who is re-energised when he comes home to his wife and son. Other ads tout the benefits of better English skills in the workplace and the dangers of gambling addiction.

It's all very well meaning but how effective are such ads? To many advertising professionals, APIs often miss the mark, irritating people rather than resonating with them.

The tone of government advertisements is usually too instructive and moralistic, says Spencer Wong Kwong-yiu, managing director of McCann Worldgroup Hong Kong. 'When you watch one of those commercials, you know a government logo will flash at the end. It's predictable and has less impact.'

Eugene Tsoh Yue-ching, executive creative director at Ogilvy Advertising Hong Kong, reckons APIs sometimes try to stuff too much into a typical 30-second spot.

'If you have too many messages that aren't even entertaining, consumers are going to tune out. They aren't paid to watch your ad,' he says.

Rob Campbell, a brand strategist at consultancy Sunshine, says some public interest campaigns fail because they represent a 'Band-Aid' approach that doesn't get to the core of the issue.

'The problem with a lot of government advertising - though not all - is that it is done to show the government is doing something,' he says.

Citing the 'Not Now, Not Ever' anti-drug campaign, Campbell says: 'People see it, people talk about it. Everybody wins, except the people taking the drugs because the message is not resonating with them. It's not addressing the actual driving forces.'

The HK$2.6 million, two-year advertising blitz commissioned by the Security Bureau's Narcotics Division features harrowing testimony from drug users about consequences such as developing incontinence and ugly sores.

The campaign has drawn mixed responses, with recovering addict and filmmaker Paul Boyle saying it doesn't go far enough in scaring drug users.

'The thing about drugs is that the fear of getting caught is greater than the fear of dying or urinating too much on a bus,' he says.

To SkyHigh Creative Partners, the agency behind the anti-drug ads, they have fulfilled the government's brief to 'tell the truth about drugs'.

A consultant at SkyHigh Creative (a joint venture between Commercial Radio and St James' Settlement charity) says the agency interviewed youngsters, social workers and former addicts to identify 10 of the most disturbing cases. These became the focus of its ads targeting different kinds of users and were tested on youth focus groups before their release.

But Campbell says: 'I'd ask, 'Has drug use gone down?' If not, you can argue there is a fundamental issue that hasn't been addressed.'

At the Information Services Department (ISD), which co-ordinates the commissioning of public interest campaigns, assistant director of publicity and promotions Brett Free says assessment of APIs is subjective.

In commissioning ad campaigns, the government cannot operate like firms such as McDonald's, which have a clear target market, Free says.

'We have to be all things to all people. Not everyone understands the complexity of having a TV message that's easily understood by the majority of Hong Kong people. We're using public resources so we have to appeal to the broad public.'

This scattershot method, however, may ultimately limit the effectiveness of an ad, says head of planning at DDB Hong Kong, Milo Chao Tong-wen.

'These ads try to reach everyone, but 'everyone' doesn't actually need to quit drugs, for instance. You need to take a much more focused approach and understand who you are targeting. Putting an anti-drug warning on the side of a bus? I'm not sure if that's the best idea. A better way might be putting more ads at the customs counter.'

And the way APIs are tendered doesn't lend itself to producing clear, lively messages. Typically, the process begins when a bureau asks the ISD for a block of air-time from the slots that television and radio stations are required to reserve for public interest broadcasts. Once it's approved, officers in the bureau write a brief outlining the aim, target audience and key messages.

The ISD then helps the bureau issue formal invitations to approved agencies to submit pitches and quotations, with between four and eight companies shortlisted to make presentations.

Proposals are awarded points by separate committees on ideas and price and the campaign with the highest score is usually awarded the job.

Usually only one or two agencies come close to delivering what the selection committees want, but the decision on how much to spend and which agency gets the campaign ultimately rests with the commissioning department, Free says.

Most allocate HK$350,000 to HK$450,000 for each API, including translated versions. Such small projects seldom attract international 4As agencies, which are used to working with million-dollar budgets from corporate clients. That leaves independent production houses which are too small to devote resources to media planning - conducting research to decide on the optimum combination of media channels and ad spots.

But ad professionals say the quality and success of a public interest campaign isn't always limited by the size of its ad budget.

Having different APIs loosely overseen by one department often leads to diffused messages, says McCann's Spencer Wong.

'They're not close enough to the ground,' he says. 'Some officials can see the idea, but at the end of the day, it has to go through too many people and you never get anything sharp or edgy. They go for what's safest,' he says.'These ads represent the government - they should be done more creatively. But right now it's like a university [lecture].'

That's not to say APIs are necessarily dull and dreary. For instance, a 2005 safe sex ad commissioned by the Health Bureau which featured two pairs of feet dancing to the Blue Danube won first prize at the Mobius Advertising Awards in the US.

Tsoh liked the Let's Keep Hong Kong Clean commercial, saying its lively dance segments using brushes and brooms would appeal to anyone from a child to a 70-year-old. 'The only problem is in its execution - the choice of dancers and background made it look old-fashioned.'

He also cites this year's swine flu commercial featuring cartoon pig McDull as an effective educational message aimed at the mass market.

'It was easy to digest and highly recognisable,' he says. 'The government may have worthy messages but they need to find more interesting ways to deliver them.'

Chao says officials need to be more mindful of their approach to campaigns. 'Government ads usually try to create a sense of fear or guilt in the people targeted, but actually this can backfire.'

Ultimately, officials have to figure out what kind of campaign is needed to achieve their goal, whether it's reducing plastic bag use, curbing domestic violence or promoting equal opportunity.

'Often a client comes saying, 'I need a TVC [commercial]'. But if an agency has integrity they'll say, 'I can't tell you right now that that's what you need',' Chao says. 'Not every campaign starts with an ad.'