Great Ads Sell Dreams And Cars, Even Small Ones

Michael Hedges June 9, 2010 Follow on Twitter

Advertising people love automobiles. Big budget brand campaigns make or break agencies, production houses and media buying services. Once upon a time, media outlets could count on the automobile sector for a third or more of their ad revenue. Automakers and their ad agencies have changed with the times.

The advertising people saluted Volkswagen as “Advertiser of the Year” at the 2009 International Advertising Festival at Cannes. For five decades the German carmaker has used media advertising to build one of the biggest global brands and make lots of money in the process. Only the best and brightest in the advertising and marketing world get a chance to work with VW and a handful of big brand carmakers.

Its 1959 “Think Small” campaign is an advertising legend, effectively establishing the VW brand in the land of big fins and muscle cars – America.  Simplicity was the message VW wanted to get across. At a time when almost all automobile advertising in America focused on “pleasure” and “dreams” legendary ad man Bill Bernbach (Doyle Dane Bernbach - DDB) went the other direction; two words, one black and white picture and lots of white space. The appeal succeeded immediately and traveled around the world. Post-war “Baby Boomers” lined up to make VW their first car. Prior to the “Think Small” campaign VW had never mounted a major ad campaign. Advertising Age magazine voted “Think Small” the best ad campaign of the 20th century.

By 1962 VW handed all it’s advertising to DDB. The 1968 German campaign “The Beetle – it runs and runs and runs” also went global, emphasizing value and mobility for all. Great ad campaigns, more than not, express the obvious. When VW ended production of the Beetle for the European and American markets in 1980, the last DDB campaign said, simply, “It’s been fun.”

Automakers are regularly honored at the Cannes Festival and wherever advertising people gather. Last year Fiat took one Grand Prix and two Gold Lions at Cannes. Fiat’s campaign to sell it’s Eco:Drive system, a software package that analyzes driving style for efficiency, won the Cyber Grand Prix. Honda’s 2005 Cannes TV Grand Prix ad went another direction featuring, according the Ad Age, an animated spot of “a flock of diesel engines flying playfully among the flora and fauna.”  Efficiency and the environment – perhaps not so much fun – are today the automakers’ calls to action. The 57th International Advertising Festival returns to Cannes June 20th through 26th and certainly the ad people will again honor automobile advertising.

Automakers use every trick in the marketing playbook, advertising being one of many. The goal is getting the brand in the buyers mind when the buying moment arrives. But the buyers’ mind is a tricky thing.

Looking into those minds, particularly youthful ones, offers a chilling reminder of how times have changed. A study of 18 to 25 year old Germans conducted by the University of Applied Sciences (Cologne) Center of Automotive found “the emotional attachment of the younger generation to the car as a status symbol is down significantly.” Choosing between a car and an apartment, only 4% would go for the car. Less than one in five would use their savings to buy a car. The study – Youth and Automobiles 2010 – interviewed 1,100 young adults.

Young people in Germany are not buying cars. Only 7% of new car purchases were made by 18 to 29 year olds in 2009. Car sharing is popular, said the study. Young Germans are “simply not interested in cars.” 

This is a challenge for the ad people and a frustration for media outlets looking for that revenue stream. Young people are the future, right? Automakers must design advertising and marketing programs for both customer acquisition and customer retention. If young people shun automobiles, it’s a dim future.

Several governments – German, notably -  offered incentives last year to stimulate automobile sales, good for customer retention, not so good for attracting new buyers. These scrappage programs – cash for clunkers – boosted automobile sales, keeping money in the marketing stream from automakers and auto dealers. The German scrappage program gave €2,500 in rebates for cars older than 9 years justified, partially, as getting “dirty” cars off the roads replaced with more energy efficient models. This German stimulus plan cost €4.7 billion. Nearly two million Germans took advantage.

The Center for automobile study also noted that young Germans “expect” automobiles to be connected, in that new media way. Ports connecting to music players and the Web are important. Seizing that concept, Audi fitted a campaign for its A8 luxury car as “the fastest WiFi hotspot in the world.” Is it working? Audi is, according to the study, the most popular automobile brand among young Germans. And January-February 2010 sales rose 29% of the same period last year.

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