Sell sell sell!

Now that this Blog is underway let's have a little chat about car advertisements. They’re everywhere, let’s be honest, and they can come in all shapes and sizes. They can be odd, scary, insightful, colourful and sometimes downright daft, but they always have a point. Anything from “this is a really fast car” (see BMW M5 commercial), to “this car is fun and full of good stuff” (see Skoda Fabia cake commercial”. Whatever a car advertisement says it will always have a point to it, and this point is intended to convince you, the public that you should buy it.

But how specifically do they do this? The BMW M5 commercial I’ve just featured, is in my opinion, rather silly. It features a jet car racing along a dessert, but then reveals that the camera filming it is fitted to the BMW, thus emphasizing the speed and power of the car. Perhaps daft but it certainly makes a point. It places the featured car (in this case the M5) in a scenario where only it can effectively perform. Not many cars could keep up with a jet car, this seems obvious to most of us, so therefore the strength of the M5 is advertised. The commercial is being literal and direct in its claim “Fastest Saloon Car on the Planet”.

Another advert, that I actually rather like, is the Honda Accord commercial. In this multiple components of the car are laid out separately in a room, in a complex arrangement, with the intention to trigger a chain reaction that ultimately advertises the car. An odd concept, but the point of the commercial seems to be the precision and reliability of the Accord. In this case however, the commercial doesn’t centre on one aspect such as the engine, but all aspects, from suspension to the speakers. This seems to have an approach that is more rounded but also, more abstract. Rather than just showing what the car can do, they’re showing us what the components can do when put to another use, thus demonstrating their dexterity and reliability.

Then there’s the previously mentioned Skoda Fabia commercial. Who knows what the publicity board members thought when that one was suggested. They must have been very, very tired to have given that one the green light. It isn’t just the idea though, but rather the actual logistics of doing it that strikes me, especially when you watch the mini “making of” documentary which is on the Skoda website. However, as so often happens in this world, the craziest ideas can work a treat. For those who don’t know it, a live action sequence showing several stages of the process documents a team of chefs/engineers building a full scale replica of a Skoda Fabia hatchback out of cake to incredible detail. The body-work appears to be sponge. The lights are jelly and the roof is dusted with icing sugar. Even the engine sits where it should, has liquorices fan belts and treacle for engine oil. It is highly impressive. However, and this is a rather important point: Unlike the other two, not at one point does the commercial feature the real car itself, or what it can do. The commercial doesn’t use the actual product to sell itself and this is very interesting. Skoda isn’t using the car itself because they’re using its image. Or to be more specific, the image they want it to have. The slogan “Full of Lovely Stuff” does sit well with the car itself but brilliantly with the cake replica and this is what Skoda want .

I’ve used these three commercials as examples as they each have a very different approach to selling the car. All are to the point but the ways they make it are very, very different and I think you’ll agree that these are certainly performances.