Health campaigns save lives, and save money. So why cut them?

Unbelievable, isn’t it?

In response to a parliamentary question recently, Health Minister Simon Burns revealed that UK Government spend on health advertising this year has been cut from £60.3m to £4.2m. Not cut BY £4.2m, but cut TO £4.2m.

Even to my non-mathematical mind, that’s a cut of more than 90%. By any standards, it’s a hell of a cut.

That’s not surgery, that’s trauma. In fact, it’s sick. (And I don't mean sick as a good thing - "it's well sick, innit?"). 

Because if ever the argument “It’s not a cost, it’s an investment” applied, it is to health advertising. Health advertising works. It reduces illness. It saves lives.

Yes, we’re in a recession. A deep recession. So we should be looking for ways to save money.

But if you want to save money Mr Burns, you need to increase health advertising.

Health advertising isn’t a huge cost – but treating seriously ill patients is.

This came home to me at a Marketing Society event last year when I watched The Bridge advertising agency demonstrate the results of a small-scale, low-budget campaign to raise awareness of bowel cancer in (mostly) men over fifty.

The PowerPoint wasn’t great, but the results were. The NHS had sent out the usual self-testing kits, but in this case had also run an ad campaign designed to increase participation. And awareness had risen dramatically, both prompted and unprompted, all that marketing speak. And participation had increased dramatically too.

But most importantly, as more people had participated, many, many more instances of suspected cancer had been found. Pre-cancerous traces identified and treated – and therefore, lives saved.

But let’s forget about the lives saved. Let’s think like the Government think. Purely in financial terms.

Many of those people with pre-cancerous symptoms would have gone on to develop bowel cancer. These cancers are not only nasty, and potentially fatal, they are also expensive to treat. Very, very expensive.

It costs a lot more to treat someone once the cancer has developed than it does if it is caught at an early stage. Millions and millions of pounds. Certainly, a lot more than a few 48 sheet posters and TV commercials.

A 90% cut in the health advertising budget isn’t just short-sighted, it’s stupid.  It is saving a penny now to pay a pound later.

And in case you think this is a whine based on self interest, it isn’t. Well, not wholly. I don’t work in health advertising. I don’t work for an agency with health advertising business. But I do have an interest.

Because the presentation I saw last year finally convinced me to take my own testing kit out of the bottom drawer. No pun intended.

I fasted. I locked myself in the loo. Then I undertook the strangest sampling campaign I’ve ever been involved in.

And I sent it off. Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t usually post my poo. Well, except to Piers Morgan.

Back came the response – “we have some concerns”. Within a few days they had me in hospital, for a full “investigation”. You don’t want to know the details. No, honestly.

I was clear. And clean, as it happens. But if I hadn’t been “clear”, they could probably have treated it there and then. They may well have saved a life – they very definitely would have saved money.

You see, Mr Burns? It’s not a cost. It’s an investment. 

A joke I have loved since I was a kid

At a dinner in Glasgow recently the chat turned to jokes and gags from our childhood.

This is one I heard when I was a kid, and I've loved it ever since. I think I enjoyed the shaggy dog nature of the developing story, and how it grows and grows. I also love jokes like this which discuss different types of people - but turn our stereotypes on their heads.

Here we go.

This guy emigrates from Pakistan to Glasgow, and takes a flat in the South Side. He gets a job, works hard, and makes a success of himself.

After a while, he realises that the months have just flown by, and perhaps it's time to take a trip back home.

So he goes to his local railway station, and asks for a ticket to Peshawar. The ticket guy says "Peshawar? I can't sell you a ticket to Peshawar. You'll need to go to Glasgow Central for that".

So he takes a train to Glasgow Central, and asks the ticket man for a ticket to Peshawar. "Peshawar? You'll need to go to London for that, pal." says the ticket man.

When he gets to London, he goes to the Overseas ticket desk, and asks for a ticket to Peshawar.

"Sorry mate, the closest I can get you is Istanbul, on the Orient Express" he is told. So he gets on the Orient Express, changes in Vienna, and takes the train to Istanbul, where he goes up to the ticket desk.

"Peshawar?" says the ticket man. "Sorry, but the nearest I can get you is Kabul. Take a train to Kabul, and pick up a connection there". So he takes a train to Kabul, and goes up to yet another ticket desk. "Sorry my friend" says the guy at the ticket booth, "But I can only get you to the capital, Islamabad".

So he buys the ticket, and gets the train to Islamabad, where he finally manages to buy a ticket to Peshawar.

He has a great time. He stays with his mammy, attends a few feasts and celebrations, and goes to his sister's wedding.

Finally, after a few weeks with his family, he decides it's time to return to his new home in Glasgow.

So he goes up to the local station, and says "Can I have a ticket to Pollokshaws please?".

And the ticket man says "Pollokshaws East, or Pollokshaws West?".

Why are so many marketers and communicators such terrible presenters?

OK, OK, I don’t include you.

You are engaging, entertaining, funny, challenging and inspiring.

You open well, tell a great story, involve the audience and finish on a rousing note which makes the audience think, feel or act differently.

When you confidently press “play” your ad actually starts running. 

When you handle the Q&A you do so confidently and informatively, addressing the whole group and not just the questioner.

You don’t speak in clichés or jargon. And you never, ever say “I’m sorry, it’s the technology” – as that funny South African beer commercial you downloaded from YouTube fails to run.

But what about the rest?

I can’t tell you the number of presentations I’ve sat through at marketing and advertising events that have sent me to sleep, battered me into submission, or infuriated me to the point of explosion. 

We are supposed to be masters of communication and language – and yet I’ve seen time and time again presenters reading the script verbatim, using slides that had no relevance or interest to the audience, and losing control of technology – from complete melt-down to a simple inability to advance slides one at a time.

The oldest form of communication between groups of people – beyond the grunts and whoops of prehistoric hunters – is story-telling. The group sitting in a semi-circle, engrossed as the storyteller used images, metaphor, word pictures and, no doubt, rhetorical device and pattern to inform, inspire and entertain.

Our presentations should be like stories – with a beginning, a middle and an end. And most importantly, a point.

And everything you use – the words, your “stage” craft, your PowerPoint slides, visual aids, Q&A – should be focussed on making that point. Like great copywriting, the skill isn’t in the writing, it’s in the editing. It’s not what you put in; it’s what you throw out.

Here are three quick tips to help your next presentation make the point:

1. Write your last slide first. Or as Stephen Covey would put it, “Begin with the end in mind”. What do you want to achieve? What do you want your audience to think, feel or do when you stop talking? Everything else should be written to achieve that objective. And if you don’t have an end in mind, why make the presentation at all?
2. The three key elements of any presentation are the content (script, slides etc.), the presenter, and the audience. And most presenters start with the content. Why? That’s not the way we market to our consumers or customers, is it? We think of the audience first. What do they want? What are their interests, their demographics, their opinions? As a presenter you should start with them too.
3. Learn to present brilliantly. Do it by watching great presenters and watching how they do it. (Or by watching terrible presenters and doing the opposite – The Apprentice is a good place to start). Get someone in to train you and your team – but make sure the person you bring in has experience and knowledge of presenting in the space in which you need to operate: boardrooms, company meetings and potentially, Marketing Society events.

These three tips will in themselves make you a better presenter – and make it a bit more entertaining for the rest of us when we sit in the audience. 

If you’d like some more ideas on how to improve your presenting and public speaking, you should register for my ezine of regular tips at www.headsurfing.com

Some gags, one-liners and motivational quotes

I take great inspiration from motivational quotes. You know the kind of thing - sayings, musings and bon mots from inventors, thinkers, and artists. 

But I also love a great gag. One of those one-liners that makes you laugh and then think "I wish I'd thought of that". 

So I always write down the ones I hear or read - and here are some of my recent favourites.

“The only thing that could make Kelly Rowland more attractive is if her third name was sausage”.

Robert Florence on Twitter

“Imagination needs moodling – long, inefficient, happy idling – dawdling and puttering”.

Brenda Ueland

“My one regret in life is that I am not someone else”.

Woody Allen

“All great deeds and great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning”.

Albert Camus

“I’ll tell you who’s full of themselves. Those little Russian dolls”.

Jimmy Carr

Creativity Tip - Great ideas take time

For almost everyone – and most companies and organisations – money is tight. Spend is restricted, budgets are down – even if cash is still available, we’re asked to do more with it than we ever did before.

But time is even tighter. Deadlines are shorter, demands are greater, and there’s just no time to sit, and think, and ponder.

And a lack of time almost inevitably means a lack of ideas. At least, a lack of good ideas. Ideas need time to develop, to grow, to flourish.

Anyone can come up with an idea quickly. But that idea won’t be great.  A great idea – one that is innovative, or game-changing, or unique – won’t be your first idea. It will be the idea you thought of when you stopped thinking about the problem. It will come to you when you least expect it.

So you need to give yourself time to think – and time to not think! 

I know you can give me an idea by tomorrow. But you can give me something great if I allow you a little more time to ponder.   

Presentation Tip: Start with your #1 hit

In a previous post, I suggested that when presenting ideas, or solutions, you shouldn’t give away the shop too early. In other words, don't open up with the idea, or the solution. You should take your time and provide the idea or solution as a "reveal". 

The most effective structure, I've found, is to build from the problem, to the strategy, to the idea or solution.

However, when you are making a speech to a large audience (as opposed to a presentation to clients or colleagues), you want to start BIG.

You want to grab the audience's attention right from the start. To get them involved or engaged or 'onside' with your opening.

Don’t let the audience sit there wondering “where is this going?” Hit them hard, and hit them early. Get your best stuff in at the start – particularly if it’s funny. If you think your best stories, or examples, or points need a build up, then write a high-impact opening.

What do I mean?  Copy Beyonce.

Did you see her at Glastonbury? Many people wondered whether she was a big enough star to headline the festival. Then she opened with “Crazy in Love” – her biggest hit – and we got our answer. Her second song? “Single Ladies (put a ring on it)” – her next biggest UK hit. The crowd goes wild, and she’s in total control of her audience.

That’s where you want to be – in total control of your audience. So open with your #1 hit. 

Does where you work affect how you think?

I've worked in lots of different offices, and visited many more. Wide open, light and bright. Crowded, dingy and dark. On my own, with a partner, and in a team.

In every place I've worked, a key priority was to come up with ideas. Whether it was for running the team, working with clients, or new marketing campaigns. In every office, we had ideas. But in some of them, we had more ideas - and better ideas - than in others. Over the years, I've become convinced that Environment (or at least how you work with your Environment) is a key cultural condition of creativity.

A great environment contributes to the generation of ideas - and a poor one works against it. Working in a box isn't really conducive to thinking outside it.

Not all of us can work at Google (take a look at their office by putting in "images for google offices" on, er, Google). Or First Direct (the only contact centre I've ever been in where the environment is calm, relaxed and casual). Or even a groovy ad agency with a blue sky painted on the ceiling of the "thinking room".

But we can all improve the way we use our office environment to improve the way we think.

Get away from your desk Sitting in the same place, in the same position, surrounded by the same people, screen and furniture does no good for your creativity. Go for a walk round the building. Switch desks with someone else for a while. Find an empty meeting rooms and work there - cover the walls in flipchart paper and scribble! And while you're at it ...

Go for lunch I know, I know, you're busy. And everyone else eats at their desk. And anyway, that's the only time you have for Facebook. Stop it! Go somewhere new for lunch. Just a new sandwich bar, or the park, or by the river or canal, will make it much easier for you to think. At least once a week, take lunch Al Fresco instead of Al Desko. (Sorry).

Enhance what you have  OK, so you may not have a budget for repainting, knocking down a wall, or even a sofa or mini-football table. But when you need to come up with ideas, all you need to do is change what you have. Find a quiet corner and listen to some music (especially music you don't normally listen to). Surround yourself with creative stimulus (new postcards, pictures, books, magazines). Put up photographs that inspire you and energise your creativity (mine include David Bowie, Eddie Izzard, Paolozzi, Bob Marley and Dali).

Find what works for you, and use it. Some people think creatively when surrounded by colour, natural light, noise, stimulus. For others, they need to get away from that and move to a quiet, all-white room.

Look at what's around you when you find yourself getting ideas, and replicate that in your workplace.

Environment is just one of my 3 Cultural Conditions of Creativity. I'll be talking more about it (and the other conditions, tools and techniques) in the Headsurfing public seminars I'm running this month in Edinburgh (23rd August) and London (30th).

At £190 for Edinburgh and £230 for London they're great value - I'll deliver a full day of creative inspiration, new tools and techniques, attitudes and behaviours that will help you become instantly more creative.

If you'd like to come along, let me know as soon as you can - the last workshops sold out completely.