Marketing Week’s lively columnist Mark Ritson has suggested the UK government enlist a “dirty dozen” from adland to sort its garbled communications over the switch from “stay home” to “stay alert” as Covid-19 lockdown eases. Some of whom I know of, others I don’t (shame) but I’m sure they’re all very clever.
He also drive a marketing professor’s coach and horses through the Government’s omnipresent ‘R’ disease transmission mechanism – “pants” he says. Sure he’s right but I don’t understand it at all.
There’s no doubt that Boris Johnson and co. are in trouble over this; ministers seem to be saying different things to different people and voters are running out of patience. In part this is inevitable, people are getting fed up after being remarkably quiescent and the Government’s message that we can do a bit more but not too much more – or else – was never going to be popular. But how precise can you be in such circumstances?
They’d probably be better fielding the hard-to-nail Michael Gove rather than health secretary Matt Hancock and the various other numpties. But Johnson probably sees Gove as a rival if real disaster strikes.
Could adland’s finest – Ritson’s “dirty dozen” includes James Murphy, David Golding (about to launch their new agency) and John Hegarty – save Boris’ bacon? Suspect it’s a bit late for that.
