Is it just me, or are the Christmas Ads, jingles and jollification toned down this year? There seem fewer ‘Christmassy’ themes around; I put this down to the Election. causing people to think about the consumerism that assaults us in the run-up to December 25th.
And it’s lovely that Hafod, a small family-run Hardware shop in the Welsh town of Rhayader, has knocked the giant John Lewis (JL) off the top of Christmas TV Ads. JL’s Ad (cost £7m) has struggled to reach 1.1m views on YouTube; so far Hafod’s home-made ad (costing less than £100), has had 2.6 million views and rising https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDtCXO71FJU&t=29s
So a traditional family-run hardware shop thumbs its nose at mega-companies, proving that you don’t need to spend a fortune to make the point ‘shop local’, and showing the old adage KISS (= keep it simple, stupid) is still the best.
Maybe the NHS could copy Hafods? Instead, it seems to copy John Lewis, throwing money at a problem, when common-sense might do the trick. You only have to walk round my ‘local’ general hospital to see where money is wasted e.g. the new signs were obviously ‘designed’ by a team; grey lettering on white is keeping Receptionists busy answering “where is …?”
Then the NHS are worried about-Brexit, as about 1 in 4 hospital staff come from abroad. Intead of dithering, why doesn’t the Minister announce NOW that post-Brexit there will be no restriction on staff with appropriate medical qualifications? As the meerkats would say – Simples.
The NHS could really learn from Hafod. And remembering KISS, get Hafods in, instead of the mega-million £ management consultants like KPMG, McKinsey, PwC etc. These boys just don’t seem to know how to save money, only spend it. Three years ago I sat on a Dept. Health committee run by McKinsey (they charge millions) looking into Hospital Dischage. Report was brilliant – but after spending millions the report was shelved. Now, the Patients’ Association are funding a new one. Mad.
Hafods shows it can really make £1’s worth of advertising bring in a massive return (even being mentioned in the House of Commons). So please let them loose in the nearest NHS Trust hospital – I bet all of them (even two-year-old Arthur) could show how to give old-fashioned ‘value-for-money’- they’ve done it already.