At BMP, we were pitching for the COI ‘Fire Prevention’ account.
The second biggest cause of deaths through fires is chip-pan fires.
People leaving the fat on the stove while they go out of the kitchen.
So we did what everyone does.
We went through the usual knee-jerk thinking of let’s show people how terrible it is to have a fire.
Then they’ll realise they don’t want to have one.
As if, until that point, no one realised a fire was a bad thing.
“Oh, a fire can damage my house? Then maybe I’d better not have one.”
So that was the brief John Webster was given.
So John looked for a way to get this message to stick in people’s minds.
Most advertising just shows friendly people.
John thought it would be more unusual to have someone who was really angry, instead.
He wanted a fireman covered in soot after putting out a fire, who was furious about the damage to property and waste of life.
John thought it needed a mnemonic to register in people’s brains.
So he called the fireman Chip Pan Charlie.
And Charlie would yell at the viewers for risking chip-pan fires.
“If you go out of the kitchen and leave the chip-pan on the stove you’re asking for trouble. You’re a nutter.”
And the campaign would have the strapline, “Chip Pan Charlie says “Don’t be a nutter.”
And that’s what the agency was going to pitch with.
But a junior account man and planner had another thought.
They came to me and said, “We’ve been wondering how they’re going to measure the effectiveness of this campaign. How will they know if it’s been succesful?
The answer must be, the number of times the fire brigade are called out to put out chip pan fires.”
Suddenly the brief changes.
It isn’t ‘scare people into not having fires’ anymore.
The brief becomes ‘reduce the number of call outs’.
So how do we do that?
The account man and planner said, “If we can tell people how to put the chip-pan fire out, they won’t have to call out the fire brigade.”
Brilliant.
Right there was when we won the pitch, with that insight.
It’s a gift now for the creative department.
But we have to remember, this is a pitch for ‘Fire Prevention’.
So we will have to make it look so scary putting out a fire, that people won’t ever want to have one.
That way we can have our cake and eat it: Prevention and Solution.
So that’s what we did.
We showed people the 4 easy steps to putting out a chip pan fire, with the strapline, IF YOU DON’T LET IT START, YOU WON’T HAVE TO STOP IT.
The senior people at the agency didn’t want to pitch with it.
They had become attached to John’s ‘Chip Pan Charlie’ route.
But John thought our route was better.
So he made the pitch team dump his route and present our one instead.
(How many creative directors would do that?)
We won the pitch.
The work ran.
Fire Brigade callouts went down by 40%.
And, for those who care about awards, it won a D&AD Silver.
The most creative thinking often isn’t in the creative department.
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Any chance of putting the spot on your blog, Dave.
I looked You Tube but all they had was Bily Joel’s “Didn’t we light a fire” video. Thanks.
That’s what makes Webster great, I guess.
A lesser CD would’ve gone with your idea and taken the credit for himself.
Remember the good old days when D&AD didn’t credit CDs?
What’s your comment on the change to include CDs?
Thanks Guv.
A classic case of recognising in our game that the goal posts can invariably move. Creatives need to keep their head down and their ears peeled.
Just took the reins at a new agency a few weeks ago. The first brief was a pitch. One of the teams had a very similar idea to mine, but had executed it much better. So I cut mine. They were astonished. There’s a big difference between having conviction in your work and fluffing your own ego. It sounds like Mr Webster knew the difference. Now, if only I was as good as he was…
Well done Richard.
One of the things I learned from Webster was, it’s not necessarily your job to come up with the best answer yourself.
It’s your job to make sure the agency comes up with the best answer.
And, incidentally, that includes whichever department it comes from.
“The most creative thinking often isn’t in the creative department.”
…And that is why some of us love CP+B.
They believe creative department = advertising agency, with all its departments.
And things work the same when it comes to strategic thinking.
You just can’t play the piano with half a brain.
Speaking of CP+B, have you seen their recent brilliant follow-up to Whopper Freakout? Whopper Sacrifice is a Facebook application which enables you to get rid of 10 of your Facebook friends in return for a free Whopper. The best bit is that each of the ten discarded friends gets a notification telling them that you have sacrificed them in order to get a free hamburger.
Yes, we’ve talked about it on W+K’s blog.
Brilliant strategy.
But here’s Facebook’s latest decision:
http://wklondon.typepad.com/welcome_to_optimism/2009/01/facebook-denies-whopper-love.html
Facebook has serious problems with establishing how far privacy should go.
They just don’t find the right frequency and it’s all to their disadvantage.
Cool case study Dave. Shows how strategic and creative thinking can be one and the same thing. Like this idea for an airline ‘Spend less time at airports’ (supported by online check in and sms-ing delays etc) Is it strategic, creative, an insight into the unglamorous nature of flying in the 21st century or a just a load of old baloney?
Rachel,
It sounds like a really good idea.
What airline was it for and when, so I can look it up?
Ian,
Even if I still had a copy of the ad it would be on Umatic, not digital.
Alas, it’s one of mine that hasn’t been made yet Dave. Or even presented to a client. If you like it can we find an airline?!
Rachel,
That’s an even better idea if it hasn’t been done yet.
Dave/Rachel,
WTFN.
We can all contribute (potential clients that is, not mess with the concept).
Go for it.
Er Rachel, I think one or two airlines are alaready doing on-line check-in. Don’t know about now, but BA used to give passengers pagers, so they could wander around. Then BA would page ‘em when their number was called. Hope this helps.
BA does online check-in and printable tickets with a barcode which they just scan when you go through. They incentivise this with fast-tacking if you do it.
So as a bit of innovation it’s been done, but I’ve never seen it advertised. So its still an opportunity IMO.
Oops. Well it was a great idea several years ago then.
Dave, Ciaran, Robin and Happy Thought,
Ta for the superb feedback y’all. You’re all right, the technology is there but hasn’t been used as a predatory thought before. And with today’s airport hell the time could be right. I’ve dug out the original concepts and can mail ‘em to anyone interested - the visuals were people hanging out at home but all contributions welcome! Do e mail me if you fancy collaborating. I love the idea of making things happen through this brilliant blog.
P.S. I’m sliding down mountains next week so may not be able to mail you back till week after.
Hi Dave–is there a link anywhere to the content you guys produced?..Love your blog–thanks..
Carlos
Sorry Carlos.
It was many years ago. I don’t even have a copy of it myself.