Product category:
Integrated marketing
News Release from: SPF 15
Edited by the Marketingservicestalk Editorial
Team on 22 November 2007
Marketer calls for honesty
From faked phone-ins to doctored documentaries, tinkering with the truth happens every day, so award-winning marketer Tamara Gillan is mounting a campaign for a National Tell The Truth Day.
Tamara Gillan, who runs marketing agency SPF 15, said: "Wherever you look these days, it is becoming increasingly acceptable to mislead and distort and I think it's time for those of us who feel strongly about truth to take a stand on this" Politics has always been perceived as a riddled with dishonesty, so Gillan canvassed the opinion of MPs
This article was originally published on Marketingservicestalk on 4 Dec 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Ann Widdecombe joins marketing Truth Day campaign
Ann Widdecombe, MP for Maidstone and the Weald, has joined the campaign - launched by Tamara Gillan, MD of agency SPF 15 - to establish a National Tell The Truth Day.
She wrote to every one of them to ask for their support for a national day of honesty.
Encouragingly, a number of MPs responded, including Ann Widdecombe, Henry Bellingham, Laura Moffat, Derek Wyatt and Susan Kramer.
Some, though, declined and most did not respond at all.
"I'm not really surprised or disappointed that so many MPs wouldn't get involved," she said.
"Telling the truth isn't always easy, particularly if it's going to upset someone, damage a relationship or compromise national security.
"I'm not suggesting we all become paragons of honesty whatever the consequences, just that we think more carefully about what we do and say.
"We might find a more honest way to conduct ourselves in our work and our personal lives.
"I would urge people to write to their own MPs, saying that they would like to see a National Tell The Truth Day become reality".
Clearly there is a good business case for honesty.
Gillan continued: "Consumers are becoming more empowered, particularly as a result of digital communications and the internet.
"If you obviously mislead them about a product, they may not try it.
"Even if you merely exaggerate a claim, the consumer will find out and tell everyone they know so you gain nothing; how much better would it be to be honest about a product's attributes, let consumers try it and be pleasantly surprised and then tell all their friends?" She concluded: "We can all make a national New Year's Resolution to be more honest with each other; let's make it 'official' with a National Tell The Truth Day on 3 January and take that as a starting point for a new way of dealing with other".
SPF 15 managing director Tamara Gillan is well known within the UK marketing industry, having won a number of prestigious awards.
Her company creates marketing campaigns for such brands as Orange and lastminute.com and is probably best known for creating last year's hugely successful 'Superdrug Summer' promotion.
She has featured in a number of national publications including The Guardian and Cosmopolitan and, earlier this year, was a winning participant in the BBC television hit, Beat The Boss.
The first annual National Tell The Truth Day will be on 3 January, 2008.
• SPF 15: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Marketingservicestalk email newsletter
• Marketingservicestalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
