One of the unintentionally hilarious things about LinkedIn is the number of earnest posts telling us all what we can learn from this event or that occurrence. \u20185 Things Every Marketer Should Take From King Charles\u2019 Coronation\u2019. The fact that I feel the need to explain I made this up says it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
The last few weeks in the UK has produced a story media people and marketers can for once actually learn from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the saga of The Post Office. For overseas readers, hundreds of postmasters and postmistresses, the people who run our local post offices found themselves accused by their bosses at HQ of fiddling the books. In fact, they had done no such thing \u2013 the fault was within a new computer system installed in-branch by Fujitsu and believed as gospel by Post Office Headquarter Managers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The result has been devastating. Many local postmasters\/mistresses have lost their jobs, their savings, their houses, their sanity, their freedom (some went to jail). Some even lost their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And all because of glitches within a central computer system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1999, \u2018Computer Weekly\u2019 broke the story. \u2018Private Eye\u2019 followed it up with regular lengthy and well-researched articles. \u2018The Daily Mail\u2019, \u2018The Daily Telegraph\u2019, \u2018The Guardian\u2019, \u2018The Times\u2019 and I expect others all covered the unfolding scandal. Although maybe not as frequently as they might have done<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The BBC ran both TV and radio programmes dedicated to this; the main news bulletins carried updates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was some debate in Parliament, calls for compensation, and an enquiry has been grinding its way through the facts, but progress is slow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This has been going on for more than 20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The story was out there in other words, but it didn\u2019t catch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And then just after Christmas, ITV broadcast a 4-part drama streamed across the week called \u2018Mr Bates Versus the Post Office\u2019. It told the true story of several victims of this injustice and starred Toby Jones, Monica Dolan and Julie Hesmondhalgh. All good actors, known here but not particularly well-known internationally. ITV scheduled and promoted the series most effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The drama ran and suddenly things happened. After years of inactivity the postmasters and postmistresses are being pardoned and compensated. It\u2019s been all over our papers for days; it\u2019s been debated in Parliament; things are at last moving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Computer Weekly\u2019 today has 200,000 subscribers to its online magazine. Back in 1999 it no doubt had fewer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Private Eye\u2019 circulation has been growing and is now about 250,000, so maybe 750,000 to 1 million readers. In 1999 it no doubt didn\u2019t have as many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I believe the ITV drama pulled in around 7 million viewers live. Including time-shifting and streaming that\u2019s risen to between 12 and 13 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The point is these are not huge numbers in the Facebook, TikTok and Google era. Numbers aside, the drama made things happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are lessons to be learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Marketers and their agencies have poured money into social media using automated techniques that are prone to fraud and unfortunate placements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many talk of brand safety, and cry tears over a young girl taking her own life because of peer pressure<\/a> allowed by the likes of Instagram. But they carry on spending on these channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They\u2019re told of fraud and largely ignore it. Admitting an expensive media placement error has consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Advertiser and agency initiatives designed to benefit society proliferate. Green packaging; less sugar and salt; more inclusive and diverse workforces; electric vehicles; media schedules that take account of carbon emissions. All good of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But as I said in October 2022<\/a>: \u2018When it comes to where they advertise, as opposed to what they advertise (marketers all too often) look the other way\u2019. They see the huge numbers and look no further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meantime broadcasters haemorrhage ad revenue and subsequently cut programme budgets<\/a>. Drama is expensive so expect less of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n