Soft sell makes British TV ads commercial art

Watching the Walker Art Center's British Arrow Awards (formerly called the British Television Advertising Awards) is a bit like traveling abroad: You reflect on your own country as much as the one you're visiting.

For instance, how is it possible that commercial avoidance is a burgeoning business in America (Nielsen estimates that 38 percent of Americans own DVRs in 2010) and yet the same year more than 21,000 people plunked down $10 to watch 75 minutes of nothing but ads at the Walker?

Many commercial and cultural factors are at play.

Some can't change: Geography, not demography, is destiny for ad creators, as nearly all U.K. spots run nationwide, whereas we're split into 200-plus TV markets. So local car dealership spots -- ad versions of Edsels, mostly -- aren't a factor in Britain.

But other factors that could be changed also explain the different approaches, according to Lizie Gower and Lucy Clay, who as chair and CEO of the Arrow Awards, respectively, were in Minneapolis earlier this month to kick off the event, which runs through Dec. 31.

"When I'm asked why Americans don't take more risk, I tell them they pay such a huge amount for the media," Gower said. Culture plays a part, too: "They're very politically correct; no one wants to offend anybody."

The risk-aversion is apparent once the reel of really good British spots starts.

The commercials are often longer, allowing extensive excerpts of emotive music that helps shorthand stories, like in a touching ad for retailer John Lewis that uses Elton John's "Your Song."

Another key U.K. component are production budgets.

"If you are watching an English commercial, you can probably freeze any frame and the sheer excellence, pure filming of it, is absolutely brilliant," said Gower, who could have been referring to a Nike spot celebrating the World Cup.

"The British public would fast-forward through the commercials if they weren't made up in that way."

And this investment invariably depicts the emotions of consumers, as opposed to the "product as hero" approach often used here.

The British approach makes viewers less likely to mute or zip through ads. Curiosity gets the better of consumers, who can't help but see how the story ends -- and who's telling it. Arrow's top spot, for instance, shows a flash mob singing at an airport.

Candid reactions of passengers' emotional response to the exuberance brings a humanity rarely associated with commercialism. Only at the end is T-Mobile revealed as the sponsor, and even then its silent sell is merely that "Life's for sharing." So's the ad, which went viral.

Critics of British ads claim they entertain but don't necessarily sell.

"We are criticized for 'I love that ad, you know, the one for ...'" Gower said, her voice trailing off. Yet she defended the soft-sell approach with a hard-edged business sense by saying, "If it moves you, and you get that chill up the spine, hopefully you will be more likely to buy the product."

It's not just the chill up the spine but the funny bone that matters, too.

However puzzled by the disconnect between our clever comedy and the humorless spots that dot most ad breaks, both Brits admire America and especially U.S. culture.

"Generally America has the best comedy writers in the world; Your sitcom writers are absolutely sublime," said Gower. "But it doesn't filter down."

Until it does.

Gower and Clay both suggested that at its best, American advertising is still considered world-class. Indeed, it often wins international competitions. But both wish the superb spots weren't such a relative rarity.

"America will pretty much walk away with the most awards, but the poorest national reputation for advertising," Gower said.