Claire Beale on Advertising

Along with the chewing gum, McDonald's wrappers and turds, London's streets were paved with something rather more desirable last week: free cash.

In fact, £1,500 of cash, in used tens and twenties, scattered to the winds, in the capital's most acceptable form of litter. "Probably the best litter in the world."

It's a pleasing little idea from Saatchi & Saatchi for their booze client, chucking tenners around with little stickers on: "Carlsberg don't do litter, but if they did..."

Now, in the ad game you don't get much for £1,500. An ad in a golf hole; a strip in a decent local paper; a round of drinks in Cannes. For its £1,500, Carlsberg got 100-odd happy Londoners, lucky finders of the loose loot; heck, maybe some of them even spent their literal windfall on a pint. And it got some nice PR. Like this.

In fact, it's been a bit of a week for handouts in the capital. At the London Marathon, the anti-smoking charity ASH parked up in an ice-cream van branded "unlucky strike", and handed out red and white lollies in protest against British American Tobacco, which owns the red-and-white liveried Lucky Strike brand. Mind you, by Thursday, young ASH protesters were sitting outside BAT's AGM dressed as beggars whose parents had been killed by lung cancer, so it wasn't all largesse.

The point is that today's big brands are taking to the streets in pursuit of their punters. Purists (and adland has a few) would dismiss this sort of stuff as stunts: big bang, no damage. They won't touch enough people to make much of a difference to important things such as sales and brand equity.

But stunts are simply the crude end of a growing marketing trend that is less about big numbers and more about a more intimate dialogue with consumers. It's the sort of cosy-cosy relationship advertisers are pursuing on the web, but it can be even more effective in the flesh.

Experiential marketing is all about getting your brands in front of consumers in a way that develops a more personal, less overtly commercial relationship. Platitudinous? Yes, but when you're on the receiving end of something for nothing - from a free concert to a free beer - it works. You give payback: love that brand, buy that brand.

The rise and rise of experiential is no mystery. You know the clichés by now: competition for commercial cut-through is fierce; ad avoidance is easier than ever; it's no longer enough to shout, brands need to engage. Experiential marketing is an answer.

Take Innocent smoothies. Innocent is an old hand at the experiential game. Have you been to one of its free music festivals, Fruitstock? If not, too late. It's scrapping the idea for something fresher: village fetes. The first, and biggest, will be in London, then they'll travel round the country bringing welly-wanging, coconut shies and free fruity drinks to the regions. I'm already getting a nice warm feeling about Innocent. You get the idea.

The best experiential marketing takes all the principles of the best advertising - pure entertainment that happens to be brought to you by something you can buy - and amplifies it in the real world. And, though it's not just a numbers game, if you can step up the volume on this personal, entertaining brand experience you're on to a winner: the Motorola Red concert in Trafalgar Square, watched by two million TV viewers; the 200,000-odd who turned out for the three-day Sky Festival in Manchester last year; or the 120,000 who pitched up at Fruitstock in Regent's Park last summer.

Marketing icing? Well, there's no doubt that for most big brands, advertising's still the cake. Have you seen the full-length version of Carlsberg's Old Lions TV ad, featuring the best crusty former footballers playing in a pub team? Check it out on YouTube. Brilliant, entertaining. Better than a free tenner? Maybe I'm biased, but yes.

But how many ads really make you feel that good? As good as a bit of welly-wanging with the kids on a summer afternoon? Sometimes experience is everything.

* EVERY COUPLE of years the ad industry's trade body, the IPA, inaugurates a new president at a slap-up lunch in a top London hotel. Adland's great-and-sometimes-good attend to pay homage to the poor bugger who has been doing the job for the last couple of years and to give some encouragement to the new bloke (always, to date, a bloke) who's foolhardy enough to commit himself for the next two.

Outgoing David Pattison looked almost as relieved to have accomplished his presidency with progress and without mishap as he was when he quit his PHD agency earlier this year. Incoming Moray McLennan, chairman of M&C Saatchi Europe and a man who gives good suit - both literally and (this being advertising) metaphorically - unveiled his manifesto.

Every IPA president has to have a manifesto, not least because we journalists demand one so that we have something to write about. And something to hold him to account with as his tenure wanes. But because every president must have his agenda, almost every sensible ambition has been claimed before. So, in the best traditions of advertising, McLennan managed to be unoriginal but entirely appropriate. His mission is to promote the crucial role advertising can play in building brands, companies and the economy.

Leaving aside a rather ranty-ravey Winston Fletcher (the head of the Advertising Board of Finance), who seemed quite upset by the whole thing, the manifesto went down well. There's no doubt that advertising is under siege, yet there's no doubt that the ad industry has underplayed its role in the country's fiscal health.

McLennan is clear that advertising is fundamental to building brand value (and brand value is fundamental to building the value of intangible assets, which are themselves fundamental to building corporate value). And he wants to drive this message into corporate boardrooms and into the Treasury.

But he is also focusing on advertising's image with the public, underlining the role that advertising can play as a force for good. It helps to lower prices, encourages better quality products, and provides information and choice. The Government obviously agrees: it's one of the country's largest advertisers.

It's a tricky time to be IPA president; a time when inaction could be disastrous and action has no guarantee of delivering real results. Now the new president has decided on "what", the IPA team needs to decide "how". And quick. One can only imagine the toll the next couple of years are going to take on poor McLennan's good looks.

* NEWS JUST out: Rupert Howell, chief of McCann-Erickson Europe and one of adland's consummate suits, has agreed to leave his post. Apparently Rupe has had a difference of opinion with global chief John Dooner. It happens. It happened to his predecessor, David Warden. And the fact that other agencies have gained a toe-hold on McCann's prized General Motors business hasn't helped Howell's case.

Howell is a loved and respected industry figurehead (though also an affectionate joke-butt - no bad thing in this business) and his achievements in building the old HHCL into one of the defining agencies of the tail end of the last century will ensure that his phone is nice and warm for the next few weeks. Fortunately for Rupert, his timing is excellent. There are quite a few job vacancies out there. All bets on: Grey, TBWA, Saatchi & Saatchi.

Claire Beale is editor of Campaign magazine

BEALE'S BEST IN SHOW: HEINZ SALAD CREAM (McCANN-ERICKSON)

On the basis of this week's Best In Show, Heinz should be ramping up its experiential marketing programme this summer. Its new ad lays the groundwork perfectly.

The TV spot plays beautifully after the recent weekends we've had: picnic rugs, sunshine, happy families. Salad cream doesn't quite fit into my vision of a perfect afternoon in the park, but the ad does a lovely job of associating the brand with warm lazy days. It's all happy music (nicked from Sesame Street), sunny tints and a retro-vintage style that just reminds you of childhood.

It's all based on the idea of "pourable sunshine", and I reckon this spot has pulled off the brief exactly. A free bottle might just seal it.

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