On Sunday 22nd May local and regional elections were held in Spain. By the way, the PSOE (socialist party -left winged-) was the looser and the PP (Poular Party -right winged-) was the winner. All of us had the chance to watch again , during the weeks leading up to the elections, how a bunch of candidates have been promising this and that, have been kissing children, shaking hands, giving speeches and taking care of people before the cameras. They did everything to get the precious vote of the average citizen.
The posters of the political parties have literally wrapped up outdoor ad spaces, even the walls of the buildings.Politicians have had more insertions in TV than “The real thing”.
Wealthy parties have even broadcasted actual advertising videos, including a professional strategical planning behind.
I call them ads, because they are ads, although the political propaganda in Spain does not need to comply with the legal ban oo deceiving advertising. I can’t understand why. Does it deserve less respect a vote than an euro or a dollar?.
Might be, at least for the Spanish law. But this is a matter, which is perhaps somewhat different from the point I am commenting now.
The point is that in this downturn environment we are living today the agency CP Proximity Madrid (BBDO) decided to auction off a political campaign within the reach of all budgets and suitable for any party just at the beginning of the career to the local and regional elections being held in May.
I guess that the auction wasn’t anything but a smart way for the agency to get some free share on media, therefore, not a serious offer at all.
Leaving aside the fact that the agency could have worked around this point, as an internal exercise, as it is usual in creative agencies, and the outcomes were then saved under camphor and quizes inside the trunk of its memories.
If not, this prêt-à-porter political campaign auctioned off by CP Proximity would have no sense at all. The price for the campaign was good for any purse, €100. An actual bargain.
We told about all the the details of this unique auction, first ever carried out in the advertising history Spain, in a short information published on this same magazine (Hot News section) last 13th April.
They have been and they still are more or less usual last minute auctions of advertising espaces in our Mediterranean country
Many years ago, when there was only a television channel, TVE, and it was not used to directly commercialize the time cuts for advertising, the espaces were annually awarded to the best bidders. Some newspapers used to auction offa set of special spaces, which once awarded then were traded by the exclusivist among its clients.
This used to be, once upon a time, ABC’s use for its back cover. But the eBay auction of “ready-to-wear” campaigns, had never happened in Spain so far.
No agency with a minimum professional pride would auction off such kind of campaigns. Because, among other things, each client has its specific needs and the campaigns must meet this specific strategical requirements. One must assume that this same applies also to the political parties and their propaganda. No suit ready to wear can fit an individual company or political parties’ communication needs.
Do you understand now why I could never think that the political campaign by CP Proximity being auctioned off through eBay was a serious offer?. What’s more a serious auction would never have matched the high professional level of the brilliant people working at this agency and BBDO Group.
When Eastwind asked Carlos Martínez Cabrera (President of CP BBDO Spain) on this subject, he answered, openly amused by the idea developed by his team “I don’t know if any agency…perhaps to gain relevance in media …but this is no way the work that we do here…”.
Anyway I am curious about knowing if any political party has directly contacted CP Proximity Madrid to buy this ready to wear (prêt-à-porter) campaign, because at least in eBay (zero bids says the site) nobody was interested.
Image over the headline.- © CP Proximity Madrid. Text on the left: We want to keep on developping policies for integration. Text on the right: We want and together we can.
Related Eastwind Marketing links (Spanish edition):
CP Proximity Madrid subasta una campaña política en eBay
(CP Proximity Madrid auctions a political campaign in eBay)
http://www.eastwindmarketing.es/blogs/eastwindmarketingycomunicacion/2011/04/13/cp-proximity-madrid-subasta-una-campana-politica-en-ebay/
Lanzamiento de lastday, plataforma low cost de compra de medios
(Lahttp://www.eastwindmarketing.es/blogs/eastwindmarketingycomunicacion/2010/11/18/lanzamiento-de-lastday-plataforma-low-cost-de-compra-de-medios/st day, low cost platform to buy ad spaces on media)
Crowd Sourcing, modelo de mercado de diseño al alcance de una PYME
(Crowd Sourcing, design works and services on-line market at a PYME’s purse reach)
http://www.eastwindmarketing.es/blogs/eastwindmarketingycomunicacion/2011/03/07/crowdsourcing-modelo-de-mercado-de-diseno-al-alcande-de-una-pyme/
