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Johannesburg - Whatever happened to the ad industry's campaign against crime? It's now nearly two years since the idea was first mooted by MetropoliltanRepublic founder Paul Warner, and although a massive amount of work has been done, there's no sign of it.
But one core element is making progress: a re-recording by South African musicians of the 1985 Tears for Fears hit, Shout, as an anti-crime anthem, with new words. There are plans to launch the song and mobilise public support at what is hoped will be a massive concert.
Though the ad industry sparked a huge flow of ideas, the musicians, led by Danny K and his manager/father, Gavin Koppel, have proved more efficient at implementation. More than 30 of them collaborated in making the music video, including Loyiso, the Soweto Gospel Choir, Steve Hofmeyr, Freshly Ground and Karen Zoid. The video is currently being finished, and Net#work BBDO's Mike Schalit says it is "truly inspirational."
He said the plans were gathering momentum, with growing interest from potential corporate sponsors and broadcasters.
It's a different story for the advertising campaign. Though enthusiastically received initially by ad agencies, support soon dwindled. It is being driven primarily by Net#work's Schalit and executive creative director Rob McLennan, but has now been handed over to the Creative Circle. Getting unanimity from that group of hyper-competitive creative directors is unlikely to be fast.
"It has lost impetus," Schalit admits sadly. "But planning for the song and concert is going ahead and should be a strong motivator. We want to build the kind of support that Live Earth (the 2007 climate crisis concert) had, and to speak for the voiceless person-in-the-street."
The concert needs sponsors and broadcast tie-ins. Schalit talks of fan parks, a telethon, a website, T-shirts, DVD sales and the like.
McLennan says the project is almost launch-ready. "We got to the point where we had agreements on the launch, the theme of the programme and the name. We have support from marketers and big brands. It is almost ready to decide which day to push the button. If we launch as planned, it will be massive, united and single-minded."
McLennan agrees, however, that the advertising project has gone off the boil. "Crime is still a massive issue," he says, "but the urgency has gone. Something must be done soon."
"We want to publicise successes and change the mood of the country, by showing how people can contribute to beating crime. Much depends on close relationships and cooperation with government. Business Against Crime's successes are based on this. We have to change the culture of tolerance, for example towards drunk driving. People think it is okay to do bad things at certain levels."
Can advertising do this? "We can't be sure but it is the only thing that has a chance of success. You need to mobilise feelings of empowerment, peer pressure, pride in the community. It's a very complex problem."
- Fin24.com
