Iraqi democracy: the sales pitch

On the television screen, an elderly Iraqi man sits at a desk, carefully folding pieces of paper that suggest ballots. "I choose to live in peace," says a voice-over, in Arabic. "I choose justice and stability." With a fountain pen, he checks a box that takes the shape of Iraq. "I, an Iraqi, choose one Iraq."

The 30-second spot, which began airing in Iraq May 8, ends with the blue oval insignia of the Transitional Administrative Law and the same mellifluous audio kicker - "an Iraq of hope and peace" - that has capped similar ads in recent weeks.

The TAL is the work of the Coalition Provisional Authority, which will run Iraq until the planned June 30 handover. The ad, versions of which appear on radio and in print, was produced by a Western public-relations firm hired this spring by the CPA to reach Iraqis clustered around a rising number of satellite TVs.

Its job: to sell democracy.

Few would debate that the US-led coalition needs some potent PR in Iraq right now, with new evidence of the humiliating treatment of Iraqi prisoners emerging almost daily. Bell Pottinger Communications, a London agency, beat out four other bidders this spring for the chance to provide it.

While advertising experts praise the agency's sophisticated, soft-sell approach - which keeps the focus on Iraqis - some also marvel at the vastness of the task. It probably represents the world's most difficult advertising job, critics say.

"Mission impossible - trying to launch a campaign right into the teeth of what's happening out there," says Jack Trout, who helped develop the concept of product "positioning" more than three decades ago. In 2002 he worked with the State Department, helping new diplomats project a positive image of America abroad as part of the Brand America program launched after Sept. 11.

The key in Iraq today: Play up the benefits of democracy - freedom, security, prosperity - rather than the word itself, adds Mr. Trout, who runs a marketing firm in Greenwich, Conn. "Democracy is confusing. And [the campaign] should say very clearly to the Iraqi people, 'We're not trying to sell the US form of government here.' "

That's precisely the plan, says Patrick Ryder, an Air Force major who manages the project for the CPA in Baghdad. The imagery in the ads, he says, is meant to encourage Iraqis to think beyond the US occupation.

"If it can promote discussion among Iraqis about their future and how they can get involved, and what they need to do, then we've succeeded," Major Ryder says. "[These] are essentially ads for Iraqis about Iraqis."

Perhaps most important, to some degree the ads also are by Iraqis.

The CPA chose the Bell Pottinger group, Ryder says, partly because of its alliances with two other firms with a keen ear for cultural sensitivities: Bates PanGulf, a Dubai agency whose creative manager on the project is Iraqi, and Balloch & Roe, an Iraqi-run firm in Baghdad that handles frontline work including printing and distribution.

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