The One Second Ad Campaign

Michael Hedges May 30, 2005

Antwerp agency defies all logic, again, and tells you all you need to know about advertising in one second.
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We are now accustomed to being quick. The One Minute book series told us everything we needed to know about everything we thought we needed to know in almost no time at all, which is the time we can afford to spend with the next meeting coming up in a  minute or so. Would-be entrepreneurs learn the “elevator speech” – one short enough to sell Bill Gates during that fateful shared elevator ride.

Product launches are the devil for advertising agencies: either you are a hero or a zero. Television is the usual and expected media of choice to do the job. Antwerp ad agency Duvall Guillaume did a little “thinking outside the media box,” said creative director Stijn Gansemans.

“We developed the product’s name, One Second, with company CEO Laurent Mercier. From that point the ideas for the creative came rather quickly. We knew we wanted to make an explosion since the product is about an explosion of taste.”

One Second is a menthol gel breath freshener created by Mercier, former executive with Italian confectioner Perfetti Van Melle. After Belgium, Mercier will target France, Netherlands and the UK.

Gansemans readily acknowledges the PR potential in the launch plan. “We’re really quite famous for our stunts,” he admits.

The launch campaign would be a one second TV commercial, actually a series of one second commercials.  Lying in wait, of course, were the TV station managers.

“They were afraid at first,” said Gansemans, almost suggesting that selling the concept to the television stations was more of a challenge than the ad campaign itself. Station playback equipment was set for 5 second minimum lengths. And then there was that 3 second roll-up.

“But the station managers got behind the idea because it was a good way to show TV in a flexible way.”

Click here to see one of the spots. May require special player

The campaign launched May 18th, airing different spots five times in each break, in every break on 3 channels. Station technicians ran each spot manually. The follow-up, now running, as a more conventional 10 second spot.

Television advertisers are all too conscious of the dreaded PVR, personal video recorders, that allow viewers to time-shift programs and, horror of horrors, delete the commercials. Esteemed ad man Martin Sorrel, WPP CEO, recently called zapping or ad-deleting “an opportunity not a threat.”

“We have to be creative,” said Stijn Gansemans. “There is no option.”

While PVR owners are yet a small group, estimated at just 1.5% of UK households and far less elsewhere in Europe, the temperature is rising on how, in fact, to deal with it. The topic has been hot since Rupert Murdoch endorsed the idea of installing PVRs with DirecTV in 2003. Broadcasters have suggested, gathering no measurable sympathy, that ad zapping might well violate copyrights.

Ad avoidance has been studied since the 1960’s and conventional wisdom within the ad community hold that some people will avoid ads while most will not. Those who avoid ads, follows the logic, are less valuable as consumers because they tend to avoid all marketing channels. In other words: who cares?

But PVRs and devices like TiVo provide instant gratification, like the One Minute Manager. And now that instant is shortened to one second.

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Duval-Guillaume Under the Publicis Wing – April 26, 2006

French mega-ad agency Publicis purchased Belgium’s largest independent ad agency Duvall-Guillaume, terms undisclosed.

Publicis Groupe CEO Maurice Levy’s mission has been to internationalize the world’s 4th largest ad group. And the emphasis seems to be on creative shops. Recent acquisitions include notable creative houses Fallon and Hal Riney & Partners. Earlier this month Publicis took a majority stake in Chinese full-service agency Betterway Marketing Solutions.

“With this partnership,” said Publicis COO Rick Bendel in the effusive press release, “we are enhancing the Publicis reputation for creative excellence and idea-centric solutions for clients.”

“We started our agency in 1996 as a place where ambitious advertisers and ambitious creatives could meet and inspire each other to do great things,” said Duval-Guillaume’s co-founder and creative director Guillaume Van der Stighelen. “It is working - it is a great culture. And it will continue to be. We have spoken to other groups - but Maurice Levy demonstrated a much deeper understanding of what our brand stands for.”

Duvall-Guillaume management will not change, nor will the company name. The company operates six operating divisions and offices in Antwerp, Brussels, Paris and New York.

Creeping Takeover at Havas. Alain de Pouzilhac Resigns - June 22, 2005

Havas CEO Alain de Pouzilhac tendered his resignation yesterday (June 21), losing his job after losing the battle with investor Vincent Bolloré. Paris-based Havas is the worlds 6th largest advertising agency.

De Pouzilhac, interviewed by Le Figaro in May, said Bolloré was mounting a “creeping takeover” of Havas. Bolloré owns slightly more than 20% of Havas stock and was voted to the board earlier this month over De Pouzilhac’s objection.

Richard Colker was named temporary CEO. Bolloré is said to favor TBWA Worldwide president Jean-Marie Dru for the permanent job. De Pouzilhac remains on the Havas board.