Reykjavík Grapevine - 14.07.2006, Síða 9

If you watched the World Cup, and even if
you didn’t, you probably have an opinion on
a certain commercial that has been played
on national television with great regularity
recently – particularly in between football
matches.
The scene opens with a modern dad doing
a spot of vacuuming, which prompts his son to
ask where the electricity is coming from. The
response is a one-and-a-half minute song and
dance routine extolling the virtues of Icelandic
water and hydroelectric power, and the main
provider of both is Orkuveitan/Reykjavík
Energy. “It hails from up in the mountains,”
the lyrics say. “This is how we want it: No
problems, and everything a-OK.”
The ad features dozens of actors, singers,
dancers and other performers – all jumping
around in tight formation and bright colours
at a variety of attractive locations around the
city. The music and lyrics, titled This Is How
We Want It, were written by Benni Hemm
Hemm and Hallgrímur Helgason respectively.
If there is one thing everyone can agree on it’s
that the score certainly captures your attention
and sticks in your head long after you hear it.
The message the commercial is trying to
convey seems quite simple, though: we provide
water and electricity, and that’s a good thing.
It’s also sending an eco-friendly message
that contrasts with the negative press that
power companies have gotten over recent dam
projects: “The earth gives us the energy, and
we return it back to her, so she can continue
to delight us – and keep us happy and green.”
A reminder of the belief espoused here that
hydroelectric energy, even when fed by ter-
rain-destroying dams, is relatively green (note:
Reykjavík itself actually runs on geothermal,
rather than hydroelectric, power).
Besides the sheer spectacle of the ad, and
the fact that it ran for a tedious one-and-a-
half minutes many times a day, there are the
issues of cost and purpose. Reykjavík Energy
is a publicly-owned company, one that also
provides a necessary public service and has
a politically appointed management. Not
only do consumers have no choice but to
do business with Orkuveitan, they are part
owners at the same time. Margrét Sverrisdót-
tir, city council representative for the Liberal
Party, told the Grapevine that she found
the commercials “unintentionally hilarious,”
but deeply unethical at the same time. “It’s
absolutely surreal to watch this thing. Spend-
ing these amounts of money on something so
pointless is completely unethical – it’s just not
right.”
Steingrímur J. Sigfússon, MP for the
Leftist-Greens, had a similar reaction. “Not
only is this a publicly-owned company, but
it presides over a complete monopoly in the
energy market – so I find it peculiar that they
would do something like this. Perhaps the
higher-ups know that the company’s image
has taken a hit because of its involvement with
the development of heavy industry in this
country – which is, after all, energy intensive
and deeply unpopular.” He added that he
wouldn’t have minded the ads so much if they
had conveyed a positive message, such as an
encouragement to Icelanders to drink more
water. “But this was just a general song and
dance routine to fix their image, and I think
it’s been counter-productive.”
The cost of the campaign is probably the
most contentious part of the issue. Statements
such as “this was the most expensive com-
mercial of all time” have been thrown about
with reckless abandon on the Internet, while
mainstream media outlets have been slightly
more careful and only made mention of it
being “allegedly the most expensive commer-
cial in Icelandic history.” So how much did it
really cost? The total bill was estimated by one
gossip columnist to be upwards of 50 million
krónur, a number that most other media out-
lets subsequently ran with the following day.
That number turned out to be taken from an
anonymous blog, and even if it had been true
it most certainly would not have made that
one song and dance routine the most expen-
sive campaign in history.
“You can ask anyone in the advertising
industry,” said Júlíana Guðmundsdóttir,
project leader at Orkuveita Reykjavíkur.
“This campaign was absolutely not the most
expensive ever, and the actual price of making
the ad was between 15 and 18 million krónur.
Of course, that doesn’t include buying airtime,
but for large advertisers that is a matter of
negotiation and doesn’t have to be nearly as
costly as the list price.” As it happens, our
sources in the industry confirmed that 15-18
million was not a high price, believing the
average cost of a high-class TV commercial to
be around 11. The most expensive ad that has
been filmed in Iceland, we were told, cost well
over 30 million to produce.
Guðmundsdóttir told the Grapevine
that she believed the fact that the company
is inherently political was the main reason
for the negative reaction they received from
some commentators. “Orkuveitan is intrinsi-
cally tied to politics, the board is appointed by
whatever coalition or party controls the local
government in Reykjavík. We’re also deeply
affected by the decisions of politicians without
being able to inf luence them in any way, and
energy and the environment are always hot-
button issues. I think people are basically us-
ing the opportunity to score political points.”
The ad campaign was designed and
implemented by the recently departed Social
Democrat-dominated board of directors.
Their replacements from the Independence/
Progressive alliance, on the other hand, are
currently in charge of the operation. Those
two parties just happen to be largely respon-
sible for the energy industry’s close association
with environmental destruction in the public
mind. Both sides, then, have to carefully
weigh their strengths and weaknesses before
attacking Orkuveitan and their ad campaign.
As a result, quotes may have been easy to
come by but the job of actually raising the
issue has largely been left to columnists and
bloggers on the internet – resulting in a quag-
mire of speculation and misinformation.
For one thing, the purpose of the ad was
clearly defined and laid out. It wasn’t a general
celebration of water and electricity so much as
it was a response to a recent change in Icelan-
dic law, one that has deregulated the energy
market and opened the gates for competitors
to enter. One only needs to look at the timing
for that to become blatantly clear; the begin-
ning of June marked the adoption of the law as
well as the start of the controversial campaign.
Ms. Guðmundsdóttir told us that Orkuveitan
had no intention to sit idly by and allow their
market share to be eaten up by newcomers:
“We understand that the public feels they own
the company – and in fact they do. But people
have to realise that the market has changed,
and what we need to do in order to make that
company thrive in the future. We have never
even commissioned a television commercial
before, besides the standard seasonal greet-
ings everyone sends out at Christmastime.
This is not a standard practise or something
cooked up by one or two people on a whim,
but a planned and necessary response that was
decided upon after much consultation at every
level of the company and outside of it,” she
said.
So it seems that the story is far less sensa-
tional than it first appeared. The commercial
may not be to everyone’s tastes, (frankly we
had trouble finding anyone who wasn’t some-
what annoyed by it after one or two viewings),
but it certainly wasn’t extravagant by the stan-
dards of the industry that produced it. The
artists involved were all happy to get the work,
and it’s not like there is an overabundance
of opportunities for them to actually earn a
living from their chosen vocations. No one is
going to be able to make a rock-solid case for
producing and airing this ad in the way it was
done, but the rationale behind it was certainly
far more logical than critics would lead you to
believe.
Why Are They Dancing? Because They’re Plugged In
A controversial ad campaign from the city-owned, monopoly power company
by gunnar hrafn jónsson
reporting
“This campaign was absolutely not the most expen-
sive ever, and the actual price of making the ad was
between 15 and 18 million krónur.” Spokesperson for
Orkuveita Reykjavíkur.
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