Burn, Baby, Burn

Advertising has seen its share of product wars over the years, and the latest is getting more heated by the day."First we had the cola wars," says Marty Cooke, CCO of SS+K, N.Y. "Now we have the coal wars."The pitched battle is being fought by the coal industry and environmental groups, which hope to sway public opinion about the viability of clean coal as an energy source. The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), a consortium of industries involved in the production of electricity from coal, has been arguing that coal is not only the most abundant and affordable energy resource available, but one that's getting cleaner by the day. On the other side are environmental groups like the Reality Coalition, whose members include the Alliance for Climate Protection and the Sierra Club, and the Waterkeeper Alliance, led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. They have focused their efforts on debunking the coal campaign with ads that argue clean coal is a myth.This week, the ACCCE is breaking a new TV commercial, "Percussion at Work," part of its year-and-a-half-year-old "America's power" campaign. The timely, audio-driven ad focuses on the U.S. workforce, and argues that the economy is inextricably linked to the future of the coal industry. The ad shows a montage of people working in various jobs that depend on electricity and drives the imagery with the rhythmic sounds of their machines."It provides a visual and auditory tapestry of how electricity is ... interwoven into the American economy and [shows how] those jobs are powered half the time with ... coal," says Joe Lucas, vp of communications at the Alexandria, Va.-based organization, a group of energy, transportation and equipment manufacturing companies. According to Lucas, ACCCE's communications budget was nearly $40 million last year, with about $18 million spent supporting TV advertising. "It is really about how our economy is dependent on affordable energy and affordable energy begins with coal."Another commercial in rotation shows footage of President Obama, whose stimulus plan includes a $3.4 billion investment in clean coal technology, expressing his support for the concept while on the campaign trail last year in Virginia.While the "America's Power" campaign, created by R&R Partners, White + Partners and Virilion, hits the heartland with patriotic pleas, anti-coal ads have taken an edgier approach. Skewing younger in tone and style, the irony-steeped spots from Crispin Porter + Bogusky argue that "clean" coal simply doesn't exist.The "Reality" campaign is funded by the Reality Coalition, which includes the Alliance for Climate Protection, League of Conservation Voters, Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Wildlife Federation and the Sierra Club. It began last December. It includes outdoor ads featuring mythical creatures like a mermaid and an alien holding coal and online banners that appear when users get "404" errors if they request Web pages that no longer exist (just like clean coal, the ads argue)."As the nation was debating our energy future and as we had a new administration and Congress coming in, it was critical to make sure that this illusion that the coal industry was out there selling didn't take hold," says Brian Hardwick, representative for the Al Gore-backed Alliance for Climate Protection. "We recognized that there was a need to educate policy makers and the public that indeed this campaign was misleading at best and today there is no such thing as clean coal."Earlier this month, a commercial directed by Academy Award winners the Coen brothers began running. It adopts the style of air-freshener commercials to parody the clean-coal argument. A suit-wearing pitchman barges into a family's home to demonstrate the power of "clean coal clean." "Clean coal harnesses the awesome power of the word clean, to make it sound like the cleanest clean there is," he says with a perpetual smile, explaining that the aerosol can touted is supported by the coal industry. The ad shifts to white copy against a black screen that reads, "In reality, there's no such thing as clean coal.""Our role has been to make this something simple enough so people are engaged in the conversation and not tuning out," says Dagny Scott, vp, group director, cultural and business insights at Crispin, who describes the goal of the ad campaign as simply to get people asking questions.Both sides of the argument claim their campaigns are swaying public discourse. ACCCE's Lucas says the organization's research has seen a positive shift in what Americans, and the opinion leaders the work is targeting, think about coal use. Prior to the launch of the campaign, focus group research that asked whether or not participants supported the use of coal to generate electricity revealed a negative position that has since shifted to 72 percent support. "We are making great progress," he reports.The Alliance for Climate Protection's Hardwick says, "The quality of the conversation [about clean coal] has changed and the amount of conversation has changed." More than 400 blogs, he adds, have embedded the Reality Coalition's recent Coen brothers' ad, indicating online buzz.Another campaign, "The dirty lie," is currently under way from the Waterkeeper Alliance, a group that has launched a communications effort that includes online, print and outdoor executions to educate the public about the harmful effects of coal use. "If our elected officials are going to promote a new economy in this country, they should be looking towards green energy solutions, wind, solar, new smart grid technology, and look beyond these antiquated technologies like coal," says Steve Fleischli, president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, explaining the group's decision to launch the carnival-themed Web site last month. According to Mouth, the agency behind the work, thedirtylie.com has been receiving about 1,000 visitors a day since its late February launch and the average person has been spending five to seven minutes there.But industry creatives seem to think the ads, on either side, won't do too much to sway opinion either way. Chad Rea, cd at Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore., says, "I can't imagine anybody really caring about the issue. The [spots] might intrigue people, but will they dig deeper? Will they actually go to a Web site or do more research on their own? And if they do, then what? ... The call to action [seems] a bit weak. [And] given the current economic climate combined with green fatigue makes these campaign and issues rather invisible.""In the coal industry's corner we have a 'Clean coal' campaign," says Cooke. "Clean coal' is a classic, inside-the-Beltway campaign based on optimism. That led in a straight line to a spot starring the optimist-in-chief himself. ... I'm a big believer in Barack Obama, but I watched the TV and read the print and the site, and I don't believe. They fail to offer one shred of evidence."The anti-coal guys went Hollywood," Cooke continues. "The spots aim at high irony and dry wit, but they fall flat"But Curt Detweiler, founding partner and ecd of The Blue & Yellow Group, an environmentally minded division of Ground Zero, gives credit to the ACCCE for using the campaign footage in its work. "When President Obama says 'This is America,' I listen and the nation listens. Those words really resonate."

Brand Marketing

Burn, Baby, Burn

Eleftheria Parpis

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Eleftheria Parpis