War will be a hard sell, say Kiwi ad agencies

12 Nov, 2001 11:22 AM3 mins to read

With the United States bringing in a top advertising expert to sell American values to a largely hostile Muslim world, the Herald asked three New Zealand ad agencies what they would do in Charlotte Beers' shoes.

Mike Hutcheson, chief executive, Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland: "You think what's relevant to the Muslim world and what are you trying to achieve with the message.

"I wouldn't try to sell America because that would fall on deaf ears. You'd have to make people think about things in a different way.

"I think I'd use Muslims in America to talk to Muslims. If you're talking to people in a closed society, you'd demonstrate their own kind being free. You certainly wouldn't try to persuade them from their existing beliefs; you would demonstrate how you could express those beliefs within an open society.

"I wouldn't try to do it in a 30-second ad ... I would be inclined to do something like a Coronation Street of an Islamic family in New York and see how their lives unfold.

"You would probably start with a documentary but over time you would change and do, say, the al Fayeds of Brooklyn. You'd use Muslim actors to do what's essentially a soap ... That's the best way of describing life in another culture, at a very ordinary level."

Mike O'Sullivan, creative director, Colenso BBDO: "You'd have to do quite an extensive research project to find out exactly what people think out there in your target audience. It depends how deep-seated the hatred of America is - if your parents breed that hatred into you, it's going to be nigh on impossible to achieve any image change.

"The chances are that a million-dollar TV commercial showing fantastic images of America is not going to work. I think you need to talk about America on their terms, talk about the good America has done for the world and the target audience.

"You'd probably recruit Muslim supporters of America, maybe have them talking to camera. It should be very straight - we're not selling yoghurt.

"They have got to go to the target audience and find out what their needs and problems are. You'd do hardliners, middle-of-the-road ... it would take a long time."

"She [Charlotte Beers] has got a tough job on her hands."

Andrew Stone, chief executive, Generator Bates: "I don't think it is an advertising job. It's too overt, too Western, too likely to be misconstrued. It would have a fairly high chance of backfiring, because it's such a Western way. It's like an overstatement.

"I think the solution is for people to be influenced but not really know they've been influenced. In this case it would be counter-productive."

Story archives: