Ad description
Claims on a website for a human resources company, www.penna.com, stated "Outplacement … As the UK's market leader we're ideally positioned to give you and your people the best possible service".
Issue
Right Management Ltd challenged whether the claim to be "the UK's market leader" was misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
Penna plc said that they strongly defended their assertion that they were the UK's market leader in the provision of outplacement services. Penna stated that this assertion was based on the fact that they believed they had: the largest UK market share of outplacement services; the largest number of corporate accounts in the UK; provided outplacement services to the largest proportion of FTSE 100 companies; and the strongest track record as a best company to work for.
Penna said that their UK market share for outplacement services (excluding all training and development, career development, coaching and ancillary services), as reported by the ACF (Association of Career Firms, an independent trade body representing the outplacement industry) in their annual survey for 2011 (the latest survey) was reported at 34%. They sent us a copy of the 2011 ACF annual survey. Penna also provided us with the figure for their UK outplacement turnover for the period January to December 2012.
Penna explained that in 2011, they provided 768 UK based organisations with outplacement services and they believed this was the highest number of client accounts within leading UK outplacement providers. They believed that Right Management provided outplacement services to 550 clients and as such Penna believed they provided outplacement services to 40% more clients.
Penna stated that within their 768 clients, they provided outplacement services to 33% of the FTSE 100 companies and they believed this to be the highest level within leading UK outplacement providers. They said that for the five years between 2005 and 2012, they had been rated as a Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For, with a 100% success rate on applications. They believed they were the only outplacement provider to achieve this.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA understood that Penna believed they were the UK's market leader in providing outplacement services because they believed they had: the largest UK market share of outplacement services; the largest number of corporate accounts in the UK; provided outplacement services to the largest proportion of FTSE 100 companies; and the strongest track record as a best company to work for.
We considered that, to substantiate claims of market leadership, we would normally expect an advertiser to show that their sales figures were greater than those of their competitors and we would expect an advertiser to have comparative turnover data for all of their main competitors to substantiate this. However, Penna did not have any comparative sales data for their main competitors. Because we interpret "leading" claims as equivalent to "best selling" and Penna were unable to provide evidence that their turnover was higher than their competitors, we concluded that Penna's claim to be the UK's market leader in outplacement services was misleading and the ad therefore breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising), 3.7 3.7 Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation. (Substantiation) and 3.38 3.38 Marketing communications that include a comparison with an unidentifiable competitor must not mislead, or be likely to mislead, the consumer. The elements of the comparison must not be selected to give the marketer an unrepresentative advantage. (Comparisons).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Penna to cease claiming to be the UK's market leader for outplacement services.
