Pátek 29. března 2024, svátek má Taťána
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Education Ministry’s ČT ad: no contract, lame content

Evropa

  14:27

Education Ministry launches uninspired Kč 60 million four-year ad campaign on ČT by an opaque firm — without signing valid contract

Televizní kampaň na 60 miliard vědeckých dotací z EU bude stát 60 milionů korun. foto: © ČESKÁ POZICEČeská pozice

The Ministry of Education (MŠMT) launched its promotion of EU funds to strengthen Czech science. The campaign will run to 2015 and cost Kč 60 million, which will be paid by the chapter on promotion and publicity for European funds. The pilot ads are now showing; according to information made available to Czech Position, they were aired on Czech Television (ČT) before they should have been – without a proper contract.

Moreover, the manner of promotion is insipid and lacks content, despite there being plenty of themes for making an interesting video: ELI — the most effective laser in the world — scientists from Oxford and Berkley flocking to Brno, the fact that Ostrava will have the fastest super-computer in the country all thanks to the 60 billion from the EU administered by the MŠMT.

The reality? Saturday evening, ČT4 is running an ice-hockey play-off between Slavia and Třinec, after Slavia celebrates its win an ad comes on. “The Operational Program Research and Development for Innovation funds scientific development. That is innovation, new technology and state-of-the-art workplaces,” Vojtěch Bernatský, the sports commentator, recites in the background of edited illustrative scenes. You can see the video on YouTube.

Since March 15, the Czech public broadcaster has been running two ads promoting the Operation Program Research and Development (OP R&D) and the Operation Program Education for Competitiveness (OP EC) – most of them were originally planned for ČT2, a quarter for ČT24 and a fifth on the sports channel ČT4.

First difficulty: contractual relations

This is the lesser evil: The ads are already in the ether, even though there appears to be no contract covering their broadcasting. “We informed the Ministry that we need this contractual relationship,” a source close to Czech Television told Czech Position. Now the problem is being resolved. When asked a direct question about when the contract on broadcasting the ads was signed by the MŠMT and Czech Television (CT), the latter’s spokesman, Ladislav Šticha, replied, ‘Czech Television cannot reply to your queries as they concern a client and only the client can give you the answers.’”

We posed the same question to the MŠMT. Apparently, two ads are running in the pilot project regime within the CT bonus program for sponsors with regards to the upcoming signing of the larger framework contract. “After a successful pilot phase, a larger framework contract has been signed for the period to 2015 for a total of Kč 60 million (including VAT). This contract deals with the manufacture and broadcasting of spots intended to promote and publicise OP EC and OP R&D on all CT channels,” was the reply from Radek Melichar of the press department. There is no mention of the specific date of signing the first contract. Is it a secret? Or maybe both these huge institutions just shook hands and made an oral agreement – just like in the market place.

Second difficulty: content

A proper scrape. After watching the spots you have to ask yourself: If the EU gives us money for the obligatory publicity of the structural funds in the media, does it always have to be unimaginative clips without content? And why waste so much money when we can’t glean anything from the finished work?

“The primary aim of the current and future spots is to increase the ‘absorption capacity’ of both operation program. Considering the low level of awareness among the Czech public of the OP EC and OP R&D it is highly desirable to raise the citizen’s level of awareness about these programs,” is the answer from the MŠMT press department. Does the public really need to know about the existence of the funds, or would they rather see the results, contents, utility or sense of the investments? The applicants for funding will already know full well where to go to click on to the Internet.

The total sum for creating and broadcasting the six clips by June 30 this year is Kč 12 million. The ads were made by the company Maximum Production, which does not have any Internet pages. According to unconfirmed information made available to Czech position, the first ad cost some Kč 250,000. ‘Anything over Kč 70,000 I would consider a rip off.’

So what do professionals in the trade make of the ads? They estimate that the ad for OP R&D would take at most two days of filming and the production costs (including a director, original scenes, a cameraman, lighting engineer and editor) would come to about Kč 50,000. “Anything over Kč 70,000 I would consider a rip off,” said one FAMU graduate, who did not wish to be named.

Promote yes, but informatively

Let there be no doubts — the operation program being promoted is a great opportunity. For instance, did you know that it supports the Algatech project in Třeboň, which is researching algae that may be the food and energy of the future?  That in Lednice they are building a Garden Research Centre that will give advice on how to preserve the character of the Moravian countryside? Or that in the tiny village of Holovousy near Jičín, fruit growers will breed better varieties? Or that Brno’s AdmireVet will develop vaccines against animal diseases that threaten mankind?

Most of the public has no idea of these. Unfortunately, the new ads will not enlighten them.