Poster Watch

FCA!’s Shaun McIlrath is critical of many of the posters featured. Although the images are simple and effective, the ideas behind them are, for the most part, too complex to be absorbed by motorists passing by

<b>Recall </b> M&G 35 Fidelity 33 Lynx Phoenix 33 Another.com 33 Norwich Union 30 Sky 29 SharePeople.com 25 Skoda Fabia 25 William Hill 24 FT.com 15

Recall

<b>LIKING </b> Lynx Phoenix 63 Fidelity 59 Norwich Union 57 Sky 57 Skoda Fabia 54 Another.com 44 SharePeople.com 40 M&G 30 William Hill 28 FT.com 28

LIKING

<b>Rank orders</b> M&G 1 8 Fidelity 2= 2 Lynx Phoenix 2= 1 Another.com 2= 6 Norwich Union 4= 3= Sky 4= 3= SharePeople.com 7= 7 Skoda Fabia 7= 5 William Hill 7= 9= FT.com 10 9=

Rank orders

Two financial advertisements topped the recall chart this month, reflecting the surge in spending which accompanies the last chance to purchase ISAs. Thirty-five per cent of all adults remembered seeing the M&G poster, two per cent more than its rival Fidelity. Lynx Phoenix and Another.com shared second place with Fidelity.

Three out of ten people recalled the Norwich Union “Braces” poster, which also promotes an ISA, and a similar proportion remembered the Sky digital campaign. SharePeople.com’s “City Bypass” and the Skoda Fabia “Honest” campaign tied for seventh place, each remembered by a quarter of the population. Twenty-four per cent had seen the William Hill’s Internet betting service poster, and 15 per cent recognised the FT.com campaign.

Although the recall scores were some of the closest recorded during the four years that Posterwatch has monitored the medium, liking ranged from nearly two-thirds at the top, to less than a third for the lowest scores.

Some 63 per cent of the population liked this month’s favourite, the Lynx Phoenix “Blue Angel” poster. Fifty-nine per cent approved Fidelity’s “Cliff-hanger”; Norwich Union and Sky digital both scored 57 per cent, just ahead of the Skoda Fabia, which scored 54 per cent liking.

Forty-four per cent liked the Another.com campaign, four per cent more than SharePeople.com. M&G, which was top of the recall chart, fell to eighth place, only liked by three out of ten of the audience; William Hill and FT.com shared ninth place with 28 per cent liking them.

Ipsos-ASI interviewed 300 adults aged 18-65 during April 2000. They were shown photographs of ten current posters, with the advertiser’s name and logo removed, and asked which ones they had seen before, and whether they liked or disliked each one.

Contact Alan Hodges: 020 8861 8000

Leave the complex ideas to press ads and mail packs

Posters are fantastic for quick, high impact bites of information – but they need to work in a split second. Clients and agencies which spend hours weighing the merits of a poster message have missed the point completely. Perhaps this is why you so often see executions that would do better in the press than on posters.

Both Another.com and Skoda’s executions would work better as press ads, as they need more time than a drive-by to register what they are trying to say. The Skoda posters are visually simple, but the thought is quite complex, and if you don’t take it in, the poster becomes just another picture of a car. Sky is trying to convey even more information, which would probably be better understood in a well-targeted direct mail pack.

SharePeople has an interesting and appropriate message, but the impact of “traffic information” is rather wasted. The logo is too recessive, and the ironic explanatory base-line is lost because it would be illegible at speed.

FT.com is well-branded and initially striking, but the campaign is being side-tracked into endless word-plays. It has told us about the site; now it needs to give some compelling reasons to visit it. There must be some amazing facts available that could be used to illustrate the product – for an information service it conveys very little information. It’s time to move it on a stage, for a switch into content. Can they do that on a poster?v

Shaun McIlrath is creative director of FCA!>

<b>Recall </b> M&G 35 Fidelity 33 Lynx Phoenix 33 Another.com 33 Norwich Union 30 Sky 29 SharePeople.com 25 Skoda Fabia 25 William Hill 24 FT.com 15

Recall

<b>LIKING </b> Lynx Phoenix 63 Fidelity 59 Norwich Union 57 Sky 57 Skoda Fabia 54 Another.com 44 SharePeople.com 40 M&G 30 William Hill 28 FT.com 28

LIKING

<b>Rank orders</b> M&G 1 8 Fidelity 2= 2 Lynx Phoenix 2= 1 Another.com 2= 6 Norwich Union 4= 3= Sky 4= 3= SharePeople.com 7= 7 Skoda Fabia 7= 5 William Hill 7= 9= FT.com 10 9=

Rank orders