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.
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