Battle for the viewer’s mind

Press, 28 September 1988, Page 19

Battle for the viewer’s mind

Ruth Zanker on television

Once upon a time in New Zealand the mere mention of Seoul conjured up news footage of students versus Darth Vader-clone police. Alternatively it evoked venerable monks and Buddhist temples rent only by alien Kiwi cries of “Oh, no! My travellers’ cheques are gone.” In those days it was “No problem; call American Express.” This year the world is invited to Seoul and “The Olympics don’t take American Express,” only Visa. The winner takes all in the marketing of the Olympics. Companies have been jostling for favourable positions in New Zealand Olympic coverage for some time now. For some lucky ones it has been a case of sheer luck. They positioned themselves years ago. Witness Bell tea. For others it has been a calculated long-term plan which is beginning to pay off in the battle for the viewer’s mind. Take those stylish Railfreight ads which have been appearing over the last months. They have really built up steam. The surrealist story of the lone, marble discusthrower being loaded enthusiastically by cheerful railway workers on to a pristine waggon to the sound of Wagner’s “Ride

of the Valkyrie” now seems to make complete sense. “Coming up for gold” is the national motto at the moment. Then there are the sponsors. Without them our gallant athletes could not take on the giants from State-sponsored East Germany for instance. Now all the sponsors’ dollar donations are starting to make marketing sense in our positive attitudes to their ads. We have the car perched high on a clifftop watching our great canoeists earn the pods they couldn’t use. The car is dressed up ready to go in “official” Olympic

steering wheel and hub caps. We have the A.S.B. Bank, Moro, and Lucozade energy. And there’s D.B. Lager giving us “a little bit of heart in Seoul” and “taking on the world” with some superbly cut images of mainly male athletes. Sponsorship gets you around the ticklish rulings about liquor advertising on telly. Then there are the gorgeous imports where ambiguous images are tailored for world consumption. The Kodak ad flashes stars, stripes, crosses and Union Jacks as well as “Yellow, red, white and blue.” The Coke ad is, as usual, full of interesting camera work and editing. It’s a 30-second celebration of winning. There’s the slow start, explosive middle, and ecstatic end. •Competition, it suggests, is standardly won by handsome white Americans under 20 (even the nerds in glasses have grown muscles). And of course McDonalds has that ad cluttered with future Olympic medallists promoting fast food. But overarching all this advertising creativity embedded in the magical direct broadcasting of events is “The Network.” We are experiencing the last great saga of McKay King. McKay King joined the international stable of

Saatchi and Saatchi Agencies earlier this month.

Telecom brings us the Olympics, no less. In the campaign so far we have been given a McKay King hymn to New Zealand combined with heady images of the Olympics. “Are you ready? Are you ready? From mountain top to valley low.” Now the story is moving on and the Olympic imagery is turning into a background of positive associations. We are focusing on the local dramas of Telecom marketing. And I suspect that the story still has a way to go. The story so far ... We have contrasting tales of city and country, of boom and depression, of old New Zealand and corporate New Zealand, of subsistence farming and fax terminals to the world. On the one hand, we have an ad which looks like it has been shot by Vincent Ward in mid-win-ter on a failing sheep farm: “Thought you were from the bank,” says the grim-faced farmer.

On the other hand, we have an ad that looks like it has been filmed on the set of “L.A. Law” with a hand-held camera. The “Telecom Man” is now the hero of both worlds. But remember he rode in on the athlete’s back.