I get the crisis
Advertising is having a tough time during the crisis. Advertising that plays on the crisis is becoming all the rage. Campaigns that don't take all this nonsense too seriously currently have a good chance of being well-received. Humor is when you laugh anyway.
When "the economy" goes down the drain, we find it regrettable - but tend to assume that the downturn won't affect us. True to the motto: "The crisis is coming. But not to me." Then comes the shock: the crisis is here, on our doorstep. Quickly slam it shut and lock it tight, we won't let it in! We duck down, crawl into our shell and mumble prophecies of doom. In the end, we are caught cold, with our eyes wide open. Recession is followed by depression is followed by recession.
Why do we behave like this? Why don't we open our eyes when everything falls apart and say: "Okay, we're not doing great", laugh about it grudgingly and tackle the future? Laughter never goes away by itself. We allow it to fade away. But gallows humor can be healing. What's more, things pick up again more quickly when the corners of your mouth are already up. Gloom and anxious resignation are not suitable luggage for a hike through the bottom of a valley. It's serious. Then we don't have to be too.
Crisis is cool
Some advertisers have now also come up with this idea. German creatives, in particular, are using the global crisis for funny and even biting campaigns: "Dear bankers, have fun on the downhill slide", wishes Sixt Germany, for example, and offers the crashed financiers a fat SUV at a special price. Bad, but good. Despite the thin air, Germanwings is in the mood for puns and offers those suffering from wanderlust the chance to "beat the crisis with a bargain". The Praktiker DIY store has put together an "economic stimulus package" for DIY enthusiasts in the form of an insert, while the fast food chain Burgerking is handing out "consumption vouchers" and offering an emergency savings plan on its website that hungry mouths can use to put together vouchers for burgers at a special rate. It's enough to make your mouth water!
Sorrow as a laughing stock
Or not: anyone who can laugh about disasters, who doesn't lose their sense of humor despite tight finances and abundant problems, is already on the way up again. The rule is: laugh at yourself, not at others. Schadenfreude is not appropriate, because we all get caught out. The online game "Save the Sacked" from the Hamburg-based career network Xing has therefore rightly provoked outrage. In the game, fired employees jump out of skyscraper windows and can only be saved with the help of Xing parachutes. The fact that people put an end to their suffering by jumping out of a window is not funny. Not even as a game. Xing has since removed its faux-pas from the website.
Such mishaps show that creatives who want to use the mood of crisis as a hook for their advertising measures need a lot of sensitivity as well as bite and black humor. So much bite that the result doesn't come across as dull and lacking in energy like Axa Bank's "Isn't it time to save again?" or PWC Switzerland's "Successfully through the crisis". And so much sensitivity that laughter does not turn into malicious gloating. Sixt is close to the limit with its downturn offer - but not yet over it. Admittedly, this assessment also depends on the dose of blackness that everyone can tolerate.
UBS is also advertising the crisis, but not so much with the crisis as against it. Against their own personal crisis. And of course without using the bad word with a K on the paper. The result is peculiarly old-fashioned statements from peculiarly old-fashioned UBS clients who affirm that they continue to trust their bank. After all the details that come to light every day about the big bank's failures and crooked dealings, the testimonials are probably beginning to feel embarrassed about their involvement in the campaign. And it is uncertain whether the statements from customers will do the bank's image any good. So crisis advertising is not always a good thing. How much did the UBS campaign cost?
Nothing is impossible
Whoever manages to keep the balance between caustic and hurtful will have the laughs and therefore sympathizers on their side. It takes a little courage to come up with new ideas now. But that's exactly what the crisis needs: Courage and rebellion. If that's not quite enough, at least calm and a little comfort would be nice. For example, Günther Schild, financial expert at the German Federal Securities Administration, professes his passion for the "simple things in life on posters and on the internet. Eat, sleep, earn money". Sounds boring. Except that the expert who pays homage to basic needs is a wrinkled turtle with nickel glasses. It shows a great deal of self-irony that the financial advisors from the Confederation have elevated a daisy-chewing turtle to their ranks. It's not just silly: the armored money expert makes a clever, solid and trustworthy impression - and thus fits in perfectly with the (desired) image of the Federal Securities Administration.
This campaign would have been impossible in times of rapidly rising stock market prices and high yields. The Federal Securities Administration was desperate to get rid of its dusty image. Now, the tongue-in-cheek, down-to-earth nature of the advertised investment is exactly the right thing - and a good image polish for both the securities and their administration. There is a time for everything. Even when things are (badly) stuck: life is beautiful. And crises make you creative.
Anne-Friederike Wilhelm
Why do we behave like this? Why don't we open our eyes when everything falls apart and say: "Okay, we're not doing great", laugh about it grudgingly and tackle the future? Laughter never goes away by itself. We allow it to fade away. But gallows humor can be healing. What's more, things pick up again more quickly when the corners of your mouth are already up. Gloom and anxious resignation are not suitable luggage for a hike through the bottom of a valley. It's serious. Then we don't have to be too.
Crisis is cool
Some advertisers have now also come up with this idea. German creatives, in particular, are using the global crisis for funny and even biting campaigns: "Dear bankers, have fun on the downhill slide", wishes Sixt Germany, for example, and offers the crashed financiers a fat SUV at a special price. Bad, but good. Despite the thin air, Germanwings is in the mood for puns and offers those suffering from wanderlust the chance to "beat the crisis with a bargain". The Praktiker DIY store has put together an "economic stimulus package" for DIY enthusiasts in the form of an insert, while the fast food chain Burgerking is handing out "consumption vouchers" and offering an emergency savings plan on its website that hungry mouths can use to put together vouchers for burgers at a special rate. It's enough to make your mouth water!
Sorrow as a laughing stock
Or not: anyone who can laugh about disasters, who doesn't lose their sense of humor despite tight finances and abundant problems, is already on the way up again. The rule is: laugh at yourself, not at others. Schadenfreude is not appropriate, because we all get caught out. The online game "Save the Sacked" from the Hamburg-based career network Xing has therefore rightly provoked outrage. In the game, fired employees jump out of skyscraper windows and can only be saved with the help of Xing parachutes. The fact that people put an end to their suffering by jumping out of a window is not funny. Not even as a game. Xing has since removed its faux-pas from the website.
Such mishaps show that creatives who want to use the mood of crisis as a hook for their advertising measures need a lot of sensitivity as well as bite and black humor. So much bite that the result doesn't come across as dull and lacking in energy like Axa Bank's "Isn't it time to save again?" or PWC Switzerland's "Successfully through the crisis". And so much sensitivity that laughter does not turn into malicious gloating. Sixt is close to the limit with its downturn offer - but not yet over it. Admittedly, this assessment also depends on the dose of blackness that everyone can tolerate.
UBS is also advertising the crisis, but not so much with the crisis as against it. Against their own personal crisis. And of course without using the bad word with a K on the paper. The result is peculiarly old-fashioned statements from peculiarly old-fashioned UBS clients who affirm that they continue to trust their bank. After all the details that come to light every day about the big bank's failures and crooked dealings, the testimonials are probably beginning to feel embarrassed about their involvement in the campaign. And it is uncertain whether the statements from customers will do the bank's image any good. So crisis advertising is not always a good thing. How much did the UBS campaign cost?
Nothing is impossible
Whoever manages to keep the balance between caustic and hurtful will have the laughs and therefore sympathizers on their side. It takes a little courage to come up with new ideas now. But that's exactly what the crisis needs: Courage and rebellion. If that's not quite enough, at least calm and a little comfort would be nice. For example, Günther Schild, financial expert at the German Federal Securities Administration, professes his passion for the "simple things in life on posters and on the internet. Eat, sleep, earn money". Sounds boring. Except that the expert who pays homage to basic needs is a wrinkled turtle with nickel glasses. It shows a great deal of self-irony that the financial advisors from the Confederation have elevated a daisy-chewing turtle to their ranks. It's not just silly: the armored money expert makes a clever, solid and trustworthy impression - and thus fits in perfectly with the (desired) image of the Federal Securities Administration.
This campaign would have been impossible in times of rapidly rising stock market prices and high yields. The Federal Securities Administration was desperate to get rid of its dusty image. Now, the tongue-in-cheek, down-to-earth nature of the advertised investment is exactly the right thing - and a good image polish for both the securities and their administration. There is a time for everything. Even when things are (badly) stuck: life is beautiful. And crises make you creative.
Anne-Friederike Wilhelm
