Will a £15 million TV ad campaign change the game for law firm marketing?

Outside the sphere of personal injury claims, it is highly unusual in the UK to see television advertising of law firm services.  Most firms tend to rely on word of mouth and a few glossy brochures to promote their activities, and believe that doing a good job for a client is the best form of advertising.  However, the world of law firm promotion is all about to change, as QualitySolicitors (QS) (which has famously linked up with WHSmiths to provide legal services through booths in stores) is launching a huge TV advertising campaign that will see 8,000 adverts being broadcast throughout May.

And this will be no amateur effort – the 90 second ads have been created by Saatchi & Saatchi and have are scheduled to be broadcast in some prime-time slots. 

Such marketing does not come cheap – it is reported that QS plans to spend £15m on advertising over 12 months – a figure which is a quantum leap away from the marketing budget of most firms, although when divided between the 150 or so member firms which operate under the QS brand the figure starts to look less scary.  QS can afford such sums thanks to the investment by private equity firm Palamon Capital Partners 5 months ago, which has also financed a ramping up of the firms infrastructure and some new senior recruits.

Most advertising is aimed squarely at winning customers and of course QS will be aiming to do just that with its campaign, but I suspect that in almost equal measure it is hoping to raise its profile further amongst other small law firms.  QS aims to have a network of firms in 1,000 locations by the end of 2012 – an ambitious project, but one which may well be achievable if the TV blitz makes more firms want to jump on the bandwagon.

QS is no stranger to pushing the boundaries when it comes to advertising.  It has a tie up with TV star Amanda Holden to promote its activities.  She caused outrage (mostly amongst disgruntled competitor law firms rather than potential clients, but also incurring the wrath of the Law Society) when she blatantly promoted QS during an interview on This Morning, saying that they are “solicitors who are kosher, who are not going to rip you off”. Ofcom ruled that ITV was in breach of its code for allowing Ms Holden to promote QS in this way, but imposed no sanction beyond publication of their findings. 

It remains to be seen whether QS get value for their £15 million marketing budget, but I suspect that they will.  They are operating in a consumer-orientated market, where they need to get a simple message out to millions of potential clients.  TV is a natural medium through which to do it.  It’s not an approach which is likely to be relevant in the worlds of the high flying commercial law firms, but the small high street firms who have been merrily relying on word of mouth recommendations for generations must be quaking in their boots.