My late stepfather, Michael Paul, was a floor manager on Coronation Street and latterly a film producer with Sheffield University. But he began his career at the Central Office of Information (COI).
While Coronation Street continues to thrive, the COI is no more.
This week the Government announced the department will close at the end of the month, marking a sudden end to a 66 year distinguished history.
Despite its Orwellian title, the COI was actually the country’s in-house, highly creative advertising agency. With only one client (HM Government) and without a restrictive profit motive, its staff were free to be both imaginative and productive, delivering some of the UK’s best-loved campaigns.
Formed immediately after WW2 in 1946, the agency was tasked with commissioning public information films and government publicity campaigns from the creative industry. Every public body in Whitehall had access to the COI and used their skill and expertise to produce campaigns on issues which ranged from health and education to benefits and safety.
Legendary works such as Charley The Stranger Danger Cat (later sampled by The Prodigy), the Green Cross Man (played by Dave ‘Darth Vader’ Prowse) and the beyond terrifying Water Safety Ghost, all emanated from the COI – even if many of us never realised it. The organisation was also responsible for appointing advertising businesses to government contracts and public media buying.
The Prospect union, representing COI workers, has said there was no consultation about the closure, and although similar functions will still be carried out on the Government’s behalf, it seems most jobs at the London office will vanish.
In 2011, the country spent more than £500m through the COI’s Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Plymouth bureaus – a sum many people considered excessive. And it is the coalition’s desire to slash public spending which has seen the axe fall. However, The Cabinet Office, cutting spending on advertising and marketing by 68% in the past year, stated twelve months ago that the COI would remain an important body because it could realise substantial discounts on advertising campaigns.
This position has now changed dramatically following a review recommending the replacement of the COI with a new communications centre, which will allow government departments to deal directly with the advertising agencies. A roster of approved firms will still exist, managed by something called a ‘procurement board’.
But Prospect’s Paul Noon told the BBC:
“The COI, a shared service that has worked well and is respected by the industry in which it operates is about to be chopped into little pieces. It makes no sense at all.”
The move is particularly surprising as, last year, the organisation made 270 staff redundant in a shake-up designed to make the COI more efficient.
Formed immediately after WW2 in 1946, the agency was tasked with commissioning public information films and government publicity campaigns from the creative industry. Every public body in Whitehall had access to the COI and used their skill and expertise to produce campaigns on issues which ranged from health and education to benefits and safety.
Legendary works such as Charley The Stranger Danger Cat (later sampled by The Prodigy), the Green Cross Man (played by Dave ‘Darth Vader’ Prowse) and the beyond terrifying Water Safety Ghost, all emanated from the COI – even if many of us never realised it. The organisation was also responsible for appointing advertising businesses to government contracts and public media buying.
The Prospect union, representing COI workers, has said there was no consultation about the closure, and although similar functions will still be carried out on the Government’s behalf, it seems most jobs at the London office will vanish.
In 2011, the country spent more than £500m through the COI’s Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Plymouth bureaus – a sum many people considered excessive. And it is the coalition’s desire to slash public spending which has seen the axe fall. However, The Cabinet Office, cutting spending on advertising and marketing by 68% in the past year, stated twelve months ago that the COI would remain an important body because it could realise substantial discounts on advertising campaigns.
This position has now changed dramatically following a review recommending the replacement of the COI with a new communications centre, which will allow government departments to deal directly with the advertising agencies. A roster of approved firms will still exist, managed by something called a ‘procurement board’.
But Prospect’s Paul Noon told the BBC:
“The COI, a shared service that has worked well and is respected by the industry in which it operates is about to be chopped into little pieces. It makes no sense at all.”
The move is particularly surprising as, last year, the organisation made 270 staff redundant in a shake-up designed to make the COI more efficient.
Obviously the news has caused some anxiety in the advertising business and, although the Government has said the creative budgets will be less affected than administration costs, it looks likely some industry revenue will vanish along with the department.
Hamish Pringle, director general of the IPA, said:
“We can only hope that the new regime … will never forget the campaigns the COI and their agencies produced have saved many lives and millions in taxpayers’ money.”
Hamish Pringle, director general of the IPA, said:
“We can only hope that the new regime … will never forget the campaigns the COI and their agencies produced have saved many lives and millions in taxpayers’ money.”
Whether you see this action as an act of short-sighted vandalism or prudent money saving, I hope we can all agree those classic public information films should remain in the advertising archives for decades to come, to be viewed with admiration and affection.
That’s certainly what my stepdad would have wanted.
That’s certainly what my stepdad would have wanted.
