KMPG Finds Clarity, Not Humor, With Ads

Advertiser: KMPG Peat Marwick

Agency: Lowe & Partners/SMS, New York

Challenge: Establish an identity for the accounting and consulting services firm, at a time when its competitors are doing the same.

The Ads: In a batch of television ads, KMPG asserts it can cut through the confusion corporations face in the Information Age. One TV spot shows a man sitting alone on a folding chair gazing into a wall panel filled with coiled electrical wire. “Never before has so much technology and information been available to mankind,” an announcer says. “Never before has mankind been so utterly confused.” Another commercial focuses on a weathered mailbox on a rural road. “Remember what it was before there was overnight mail, voicemail and e-mail?” the announcer asks. “You actually had time to think.” A third shows dowdy mothers babbling unintelligible advice--”Always conduct a mass utilization model before crossing the street,” says one--to lampoon jargon used by consultants. “Imagine if your mom’s advice was as convoluted as most business advice,” the announcer says. The spots end with the slogan: “It’s time for clarity.”

Comment: KMPG is carving out an image after wading through some corporate confusion of its own--its proposed merger with rival Ernst & Young fell apart last February. It wants potential clients to view it as a source of clear-headed advice. But in making comparisons to simpler times, KMPG seems more nostalgic than forward-thinking. In adopting a slow pace and solemn tone for these potentially funny spots, KMPG comes across as utterly humorless. $$