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After slaving away on our bumper summer edition and laying down the groundwork on the upcoming issues, it would be fair to say this hard-working Communicate staffer had earned his summer break.

So it was with a head full of giddiness, a bag full of clothes and a skip in my step that I embarked on a two week exodus taking in various UK destinations, as well as family and friends across that crowded isle.

Just what I need, thought I, a nice relaxing break from the adrenaline-charged, slogan-powered, attention-seeking, consumer-demanding marketing industry for which I graft week-in, week-out.

Of course, I knew it wasn’t really; the UK is one of the most saturated ad landscapes in the world. I knew there would be billboards, ads on the radio, on TV, in the taxis, on the lampposts – everywhere, in fact. But I am more than capable of ignoring all that when I’m not working; it becomes background noise. Besides, lots of advertising in the UK is actually pretty good.

There were two things I didn’t reckon on, though, when I thought I could ignore advertising for a while: the audacity of modern marketers, and the inventiveness of agencies.

After I’d taken my seat on flight EK 08 from Dubai to London Gatwick I encountered the audacity. Emirates Airlines, who I had chosen to fly with and whom I had paid a considerable sum for the right to do so, spent the opening ten minutes of my flight advertising.
 
Emirates Airlines.
 
To me.
 
While I was sitting in one of its planes.
 
Now I don’t know about you, but I’d have thought the fact I had purchased the ticket, checked in my luggage and got on the plane would confirm the sale. Bish bash, job done, concentrate on great service and you’ll have a loyal customer.
 
Do I need to know about duty free on board? Not really, but go ahead, I know it’s a good source of income for you. Do I need to know about drinks and service? Well, it’s pretty much self-explanatory: You sit, they bring drinks. But OK. Do I need to know how great it is in first class?
Here’s where I draw the line. No, I don’t, because I can’t afford to fly in another class. If I could I would be there. There is no one, NO ONE on this planet who buys an economy tickets and then says to themselves, Oh hang on, business looks bit nifty, I‘ll just pay three times the price and upgrade.
 
It’s advertising for the sake of it, bludgeoning you into submission under the cover of “customer service.” Trapped in a tin can, we are forced to watch the whole thing before any of the entertainment is accessible.
 
On a side note, what I find particularly unnerving is the way everyone in these in-flight videos moves in eerie slow motion. They should add some realism, like the embarrassing and inexplicable scramble on and off the plane, or the illegal jingle of cell phones as cabin crew frantically try to stop passengers retrieving overweight hand luggage from above before all the wheels are down.
 
Over in the UK the talk of ad world seems to be the meerkats, who have achieved that rare cross over from low budget TV ad to popular culture.They advertise Comparethemarket.com, under the guise of a campaign to stop people visiting Comparethemeerkat.com by mistake (it exists, check it out). The difference is “Simples,” as the meerkats say. (For inexplicable reasons, the meerkats have seemingly eastern European accents.)
 
It’s an off the wall kind of campaign, a company attempting breakout recognition in a category which really isn’t very exciting. And it’s had what we in the UK call the Marmite effect – you either love it or hate it. But either way, it’s got people talking about meerkats everywhere. I heard no less than three national radio stations mention it inside a week.
 
This widespread recognition is a reward for the bold strategy, and perhaps something advertisers in this region could take on board – risks can reap rewards. It’s something we definitely need to learn – returning to Dubai, the first advertising poster I see in the airport is: a man in traditional dress walking on the golden sands of the desert, and some slogan about ambition.
 
I don’t know if I’m reassured or reviled, because it’s ad business as usual in Dubai.

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