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GAZETTE
JULY-AUGUST 1981
Adventure
into
Advertising
The English Experience
M
OD E RN advertising practitioners may deny the
famous dictum of one of the founders of their
profession — "One half of all advertising is wasted, but
nobody knows which half'. They will point to penetration
studies, in-depth surveys, sampling and the other
techniques which are used to determine the effectiveness of
advertising campaigns but, after two major campaigns of
corporate advertising by the Law Society in England, it
was considered doubtful whether or not the improvement
in the overall reaction of the public to the profession
justified continuation of the programme.
The Law Society's National Information Campaign
began in 1977/7 8 in the Press and on TV, and continued in
the Press in 1 9 7 9 / 8 0. Funding was provided through the
collection of £ 10 per head from members of the profession
(paid with the practising certificate fee) in 1977, and £ 2 0
per head in 1978 and 1979.
The monitored results indicated that, broadly speak-
ing, there was an overall improvement but not enough to
justify continuation. The subsequent approach has been
to inform the public of specific aspects of the profession's
services through the establishment of information
objectives, in fact differing little from those originally
established:
1. Increasing public awareness of the work of the pro-
fession and the social need for solicitors;
2. Informing the public of the services available from the
profession;
3. Involvement of the profession in the achievement of
these objectives.
The attempt to achieve the first objective through a
national advertising campaign was abandoned, largely —
as already indicated — as the result of the experiences of
1 9 7 7 - 1 9 8 0, and the high cost of such campaigns. The
employment of public relations consultants for general
purposes would, it was thought, cost a substantial amount
and achieve little. The view was taken that much of the
work of such consultants was already covered by "the
Law Society's Professional and Public Relations Depart-
ment and that local law societies should become more
involved in public relations. To assist the local bodies, it
was considered that material should be provided to assist
them in media and public communications.
Future advertising on a national scale will be limited to
promoting special services. Local advertising campaigns
have been found not to be cost-effective, except for very
narrowly-defined purposes.
Part of the fund (currently £ 8 7 4 , 0 0 0) which the Law
Society raised for its National Information Campaign will
now be used for the production of a film concerning the
solicitors' profession, and also for the making of video
and audio-visual programmes which can be used in
education and in projecting the profession to the public.
Mr. H. B. Matthissen, Chairman of the Law Society's
Professional
and
Public
Relations
Committee,
commented in that Society's
Gazette
(29 April 1981):
"Good public relations cannot be achieved without
first establishing sound professional relations. The
Committee is determined that a strong campaign
should be mounted to remind members of the pro-
fession of their responsibility for the efficient
conduct of their work and for good client relations,
emphasising that this is in their own self-interest."
—a view which would be endorsed by the Public Relations
Committee of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.•
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