Invest in Anywhere adverts

So you want to target potential inward investors? Let’s see, what do business decision-makers read over their Corn Flakes? The Financial Times, The Economist, Daily Telegraph, The Times… OK, so let’s get on their radar by invading their morning read. Those nice advertising sales people are offering a special deal if we book something now, and they tell us that their readership is XYZ thousands of AB types, just the demographic we’re looking for. Perfect. All we need now is an advert – let’s go for a big splashy half-page full colour – after all, with a special rate and a few repetitions it’s only the cost of a another member of staff’s salary. How can we make ourselves stand out? How can we differentiate our location? What will attract the decision-makers? Certainly not the “Invest in Anywhere” advertising campaigns that are doing the rounds at the moment.

At least three English regions have been throwing an awful lot of (your) money at such campaigns in recent weeks. Without naming and shaming the Regional Development Agencies involved, their names include variations of compass points North, South, East and West. As for distinctiveness, forget it. Having seen these adverts, all I have learned is that one region is “Europe’s 12th biggest economy” (great, if size mattered to me, then I’d invest in one of the eleven larger ones); another region is very “passionate” about everything (perhaps there’s a patent pending on that adjective, but don’t tell the Italians, French, Latin Americans etc) and the third region has investors who say they moved there because the “motivated” workers are “inspirational” (hmm, of course, they are, as opposed to unmotivated sloths in the rest of the UK).

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that these regions don’t have passion, inspiration, motivation etc, its just that they are not islands, they are not countries, and there is nothing in the artificial regional carve-up of England that makes one region particularly more inspirational or passionate than any other. Yes, there are key differences between all English towns and cities, but those differences are diluted at a regional level.

It was in this context of bland advertising that it was refreshing to see in The Times this week that those past masters of inward investment, the Irish, have come up with the kind of message that will attract far more attention across the breakfast table. “PAY LESS TAX, PLAY MORE GOLF” screams the headline of an advert for a Dublin business park adjacent to a golf course. A simple and rather brash proposition, but sometimes marketers can be a little too clever for their own good. Understanding what makes decision-makers tick is the key, and a proposition that appeals to both profit motive and playtime motive will always stand out in a sea of sameness.