Ethos Public Relations Manchester

Go Compare? No – Go Away!

by Rob

I was interested to read in a recent poll for Marketing magazine that Webuyanycar.com's musical ad campaign was named the most irritating in the UK.

As a regular TV viewer I watch my fair share of adverts and often want to throw something at the screen when an annoying ad comes on.

Some of those that make my blood boil, namely the Webuyanycar.com, Go Compare and singing Halifax adverts, not surprisingly all made it into the top 10 in Marketing’s poll. However is the fact that I remember these adverts, for all the wrong reasons, playing into the advertisers’ hands? Is their advertising strategy simply to be irritating so we remember their brand?

The answer of course is yes, as Gio Compario (the Go Compare Man) and Compare the Market’s meerkat, Aleksandr Orlov, are now very well known. But, in my opinion, they are only well known because so many people hate them. They certainly don’t persuade me to buy from them and, to me, the increase in brand awareness is not worth the backlash that a lot of these brands ultimately face.

Go Compare is now as much about a ridiculed opera singer as about car insurance. But it doesn’t need to be like that.

A number of brands have managed to produce ads that you remember but are not annoying – John Lewis being the most recent example. Their ad for Christmas 2011 – a boy eager to give his parents presents to a cover version of The Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want" – was simple, heart warming, ingenious and reflected the ethos of the brand well. To me, this was much more appealing than an irritating opera singer or a run of the mill choir of bankers! It would also encourage me to shop there – although I do base my purchases on much more than just one advertisement.

At the end of the day it is all down to personal taste (whether you have any or not!) but I think it is telling that Go Compare is having a review of its advertising account and the future of Gio Compario is up in the air.

It seems that even Go Compare has tired of its mascot…

Posted at 12:27pm on 20^th January 2012