BASF: 'We Create Chemistry'

(Agency: M&C Saatchi; Air date: 11/9/13; Length: 40 seconds)

I was surprised when I saw the new spot for BASF a couple of weeks ago; not particularly because of the content of the ad but because I was struck by the question of why the German chemical giant would need to advertise on television in the first place. The vast majority of adverts made for the general, TV-watching public are for products or services that we as consumers can go to the high street or online and purchase – washing powder, DVDs, packets of crisps. However, this isn’t the case with BASF. The products they produce are only sold to trade, not sold to the end consumer at all.

No doubt aware that to most people a chemical company would create an image of a cold, faceless, sterile entity, M&C Saatchi are keen to dispel that image by showing how BASF’s work touches every aspect of human life and, as such, humans beings are present throughout. Backed by a magical, Harry Potter-esque soundtrack, we see humans at work and at play, in a children’s playground, a sunny French-looking market, a Chinese restaurant and, finally, at a young family’s cosy bungalow in the countryside. The ad suggests that BASF have a hand in making glass products, and the voiceover hints at the future prospect of windows that can turn sunlight into electricity. The plastic bags BASF produce could one day be biodegradable, and their wind turbines, which overlook the young family’s bungalow, could be more durable. 

But why are BASF telling us all this? It isn’t to persuade us to buy a bulk order of their wind turbines or plastic bags as these are obviously items the average consumer will never purchase. Windows, on the other hand, are purchased by TV viewers; however, whereas BASF may produce the glass for the windows, the glass is sold to trade rather than to the end consumer. And even then, when I walk into the shop to purchase my windows, the glass doesn’t have the BASF logo on it, so I’m not to know if it was made by BASF anyway. Therefore, if BASF don’t have a specific product to sell us, is this campaign more about improving the brand’s image and reputation?

Wikipedia states that BASF’s recent trial of a new genetically modified potato in the UK faced opposition from anti-biotechnology protesters. Perhaps, then, the campaign is designed to distance the brand from their association with the toxic topic of Frankenstein foods. Indeed, BASF suspended their research in the UK in 2009 and halted research in the rest of Europe earlier this year, so this could be a possibility. Whatever the ad’s purpose, clearly a lot has been invested in it: Campaign report that BASF spent £2.6 million on media in the UK alone in 2012 and that this ad is part of an integrated campaign across Asia-Pacific, Brazil, Europe and North America. 

A page in the news section of BASF’s website proudly announces that this advert ‘will be broadcast more than 1,750 times on UK terrestrial and satellite channels’ in its two weeks of airing, and that its UK debut was during an episode of Emmerdale on ITV1. I suspect, however, that the average Emmerdale viewer won’t pay as much attention to this advert as they will to the ads for those brands they are able to find on the high street.