Advertising Theme – Driven To Write

Page Three

One man’s obsession with the third page.

Image: Society of Automotive Historians via Deans Garage

The mention of page three to anyone under the age of thirty five probably elicits nothing more than a numerical continuation from the front page. For older folk amid these isles however, the phenomenon was frequently known to turn grown men into quivering heaps. In newspapers commonly known as rags, (tabloids to you and I) the oft-ignored headline (often dubious in nature) would be bypassed in haste in order to allow that day’s young lady briefly describe her tastes whilst baring her upper torso. Workshop banter would ensue.

There being little new under the sun, advertising has been a staple throughout the car industry’s history. And while some would pay happily for front page status, others towards the rear and the rest somewhere in between, one manufacturer chose one magazine and more to the point, one page in particular to Continue reading “Page Three”

Born in the USA

The Euro-pick-up truck is unwell.

Broadly speaking, we have a good deal to thank our American neighbours for in automotive terms, notwithstanding of course, the fact that some influences have been better received than others. Nevertheless, the automobile evolved more rapidly, and improved in ways we could scarcely have imagined largely due to US market forces. For instance, the modern styling studio was very much an American innovation, and it’s probably fair to say that nobody did more to Continue reading “Born in the USA”

What’s in a Name? (Part Two)

Concluding our exploration of the often treacherous practice of automotive nomenclature.

Given the numerous problems and pratfalls we uncovered in Part One, it might seem simpler to avoid the bear-traps altogether and stick to safe and neutral numbers. These can be used to indicate the range hierarchy, such as BMW’s ultra-logical 1 to 8-Series model designations.

This works fine as long as the manufacturer is happy to Continue reading “What’s in a Name? (Part Two)”

What’s in a Name? (Part One)

An exploration of the arcane and sometimes treacherous landscape of automotive nomenclature.

A DTW article on the venerable Ford Cortina raised in my mind the question of the enduring appeal of the name chosen for this model. Was it the association with the glamorous Italian ski resort, or simply that the word was phonetic and tripped off the tongue easily, that was behind Ford’s decision to append it to a fine if unglamorous family car? Probably a bit of both: Ford was already using Capri, another Italian tourist destination, for the coupé version of the Consul Classic.

In any event, I began thinking about the whole business of finding suitable names for new motor vehicles. Fundamentally, this involves choosing words that Continue reading “What’s in a Name? (Part One)”

Don’t Look Now

As the World begins to face up to a growing climate emergency, the motor industry illustrates just how tone-deaf it has become.

The question of social responsibility is one with which carmakers have been (vainly) grappling for some considerable time now. Indeed, what little has been shown up to now appears to have been jettisoned by many in a heedless dash for market dominance.

This decadent spiral has (as we have previously discussed) taken corporeal form in the wholesale embrace of needlessly aggressive visual tropes and ‘to-hell-with-it’ consumption, and nowhere has this state been more vividly illustrated than amongst the three foremost rival German prestige marques; excesses not simply embodied in the vehicles these carmakers serve up, but also in the manner in which they Continue reading “Don’t Look Now”

Theme: Advertising – Smitten by a Griffin

Vauxhall, ‘Once Driven Forever Smitten’.

As an ad-slogan, it never really sounded right to me, carrying within it a sense of deadlines unmet and frantic solutions cobbled together. It also suggested not so much an ad-agency creative team out of ideas, more a client without a clue.

Continue reading “Theme: Advertising – Smitten by a Griffin”

Advertising: Speak My Language

Vorsprung durch… advertising.

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When Sir John Hegarty; doyen of UK advertising and co-founder of renowned ad-agency, Bartle Bogle Hegarty took on the Audi creative account back in 1982 the Ingolstadt marque’s image was somewhat nebulous. Yes, they had launched the trendsetting Quattro coupé and were fast gaining a reputation for unorthodox engineering ideals, but they faced as precipitous an ascent to the summit of the automotive ziggurat as Infiniti does today. Continue reading “Advertising: Speak My Language”

Theme: Advertising – Ceci N’est Pas Une Poire

In 1976, Renault launched a car which set the template for the mid-sized hatchback which became the default choice of households, if not the world over, at least in Europe…

The ill-advised press campaign that soon followed, however, made a fool of their customers – and of the rest of the motor industry. Building on the success of the R4 and R16, and just like the R5 a few years before it, the R14 offered maximum interior space for passengers and their luggage in a compact footprint, draped in modern, unostentatious bodywork. Continue reading “Theme: Advertising – Ceci N’est Pas Une Poire”

Theme : Advertising – Ford’s Typographical Revolution

Ford’s influential adverts of the late ’90s set a style still in use throughout Ford’s communications. We look at an early example here.

At the end of the 20^th century, Ford introduced a distinctive new style for their print advertising. The sans serif typeface indicated straight-forward modernity. It looks like a variant of Helvetica but is actually a font called Antenna The ads use both bold and non-bold type depending on the function. In the ad shown here it’s all big and bold and very clear. You can Continue reading “Theme : Advertising – Ford’s Typographical Revolution”

Theme : Advertising – Legal, Decent, Honest, Truthful

Theme: Advertising – Radio

It’s been said of radio that its advantage over other media is that the pictures are better.

This is generally true but when it comes to car advertising it is not. Radio ads can’t hope to convey the visual impression of a car, its most important attribute. Instead they are left to handle other aspects which can be presented verbally. These might include news of special offers and to point customers in the direction of dealers. They might serve to tell listeners of the arrival of a new model but other media must handle the rest. One advantage they do have is that they have a kind of captive audience and they contact the biggest audience for radio, drivers trapped in their cars. Continue reading “Theme: Advertising – Radio”

Theme: Advertising -1978 Mazda 1300 DL

Advertising that mentions potential problems draws customers’ attention to them. Mazda’s advert from 1973 does just this. And it uses weasel wording too.

As I said in the introduction, advertising addresses people’s worries. Just as Rover handled the problem that their 1993 620 saloon was a Honda Accord in tweed (“Above all, it´s a Rover”), this ad from 1978 attacks the common prejudice that Japanese cars were vulnerable to rust. I tried to find one of these cars for sale and found only the precursor to the Mazda 626, the 616 LN. It’s from 1975 and probably the only one left.

Continue reading “Theme: Advertising -1978 Mazda 1300 DL”

Theme: Advertising – Off Message

Lexus’ recent creative review ditched more than the message…

All good advertising embodies an essential truth. For some years now for instance, Lexus has gone with the tagline ‘The Pursuit of Perfection’; a relatively believable goal to envisage. However, despite some success in the US market, Lexus remains stubbornly among the junior ranks of the European prestige car business. In a fit of insecurity, Continue reading “Theme: Advertising – Off Message”

Theme : Advertising – Who The Fun Do They Think We Are?

Richard’s fine introduction on this topic began with two quotes, both holding a high degree of truth to advertising in general, yet both I’d suggest are not always relevant to that branch of advertising that deals with cars.

Edwin Land, who brought us Polaroid, as well as other products of intelligent research, said “Marketing is what you do when your product is no good” but, although Edwin Land was a remarkable inventor, it was easy for him to say that since, for years, his instant film system was the best in a group of one. Car manufacturers don’t have that luxury – if only Karl Benz had employed patent lawyers as good as Land’s we’d all be peering through that silver star on the bonnet. Also the problem is that, essentially, all cars are good these days – it’s a fair time since VW could point to a Korean upstart and state, quantitatively and overtly, that it didn’t make the grade. So you can’t just sell on actual superiority. Continue reading “Theme : Advertising – Who The Fun Do They Think We Are?”

Theme: Advertising – 1973 Citroen GS

1973 a 1.2 litre engine was enough for a medium-sized family car. And we seem to be back to where we started with today’s downsized motors.

1973 Citroen GS - £1068. — 1973 Citroen GS – £1068.

This ad for the Citroen GS shows how, in other respects, we are being served up very ordinary cars where once it was possible to drive something truly advanced.

Theme : Advertising – “Leyland Cars Are Not Rubbish (Except Jaguars)”

The spread we are looking at today dates from November 1977. In line with standard advertising practice it preys on the worries of consumers to make its case. Here is the text, neatly indicative of several prejudices of the day.

1977 Leyland Car´s Supercover advertisement

“Although man has come a long way since he invented the wheel, he hasn’t yet discovered a way of totally eliminating its deadliest enemy: the Gremlin.
And the gremlin’s favourite hunting ground is brand new cars. That’s why at Leyland Cars we invented Supercover. With Supercover every new Leyland car is given a thorough 69-point check for lurking gremlins at the garage before it’s allowed to be sold. Continue reading “Theme : Advertising – “Leyland Cars Are Not Rubbish (Except Jaguars)””

Theme: Advertising – Rover’s RIME EEF.

It was the year 2000 and according to the predictions from 1970 we’d have been traveling on hover-speeders and wearing metallic-nylon bodysuits. Somehow that didn’t pan out. For Rover, it was still 1959 though.

For your education and general knowledge, today’s item on advertising is an example of exploiting the customer’s worst instincts and distracting them from the selling point. This was done not only by the form of the ad as conceived, but simply by ensuring the message was concealed by the centre fold of the magazine. ‘Rime eef’, it reads. Continue reading “Theme: Advertising – Rover’s RIME EEF.”

Theme of the Month : Advertising – Introduction

“Marketing is what you do when your product is no good, ” said Edwin H. Land. David Foster Wallace said of an ad: “It did what all ads are supposed to do: create an anxiety relievable by purchase.”

1898 adver for Winton. It´s horseless. — 1898 advert for Winton. It´s horseless.

This month’s theme is the about the ephemeral products of automotive advertising. As long as cars have been available, there have been people making money trying to help manufacturers get yours. At first, the main theme of car advertising was to Continue reading “Theme of the Month : Advertising – Introduction”