Guess what? Heathrow T5, "The home of Bristish Airways" has no business lounge facilities in Satellite C ...
Guess who is advertising their lounge facilities in T5C, taking advantage of any negative centiment amongst business travellers towards BA?
Sadly I agree, "Your airline's either got it or it hasn't" ...
Back in the Spring of 2008, Citroën UK ran their Unmistakeably German advertising campaign to support the launch of the C5. The premise of the campaign being that the build quality of the C5 could only have be achieved by a German company. The aim was to overcome the negative perception of Citroën build quality, amongst UK consumers.
Now prepare for a little role reversal, as Volkswagon attempt to use German born designer Karl Lagerfeld and the perception of Parisian chic to sell the new Polo STYLE, which is only available in Germany ...
In a 32 second TV spot, fashion icon Lagerfeld believes that his two new "very elegant" super models will be the toast of Paris, only to be told they are only available in Germany!
Upon hearing the news Lagerfeld exlaims: "Was! Nur in Deutschland?" (What! Just in Germany?)
Looking discussed He follows up with: "Deutschland ... diese Modelle gehören nach Paris!" (Germany ... these models belong in Paris!)
... just like Karl Lagerfeld himself!
Whilst the majority of the world focus on the inauguration of the incoming President, Philips are taking a slightly different view on the day ...
Hopefully the resulting advert, which appeared in UK Newspapers on 20th January 2009, will be remembered for a long time to come ...
It's a pity that US Presidents are such a good source of satirical material for advertising. The all time classic example, has to be S.C Johnson & Son, who during a Channel 4 interview with Monica Lewinsky, chose to run adverts for Vanish Stain Remover.
What product will President Obama be linked with at the end of His term(s) in office?
The image below was taken from the latest Polaris World TV commercial, which was shown on UK TV today. It invites potential customers to "come and discover Polaris World, at no cost".
The sharp eyed may notice, that the free visit offer is valid until 30th April 2008. However, when we called Polaris World telesales, they informed us that the offer was still available.
Lets hope that potential customers ignore the fine print, otherwise the response rates from these adverts, maybe disappointingly low.
Citroën, have a big problem ...
Despite being part of the PSA Peugeot Citroën group, the worlds 5th largest* Motor Vehicle producer, they have a problem when it comes to customer satisfaction and perception of product quality.
In a recent UK survey**, Citroën were ranked 33rd, of 35 car manufacturers, for customer satisfaction. In the same survey, the two other mass market French brands, Renault and Peugeot, were ranked 34th and 35th respectively. In the UK, being a French car brand, is not necessarily seen as a good thing.
Citroën UK, have come up with an interesting solution to this problem, for the launch of the new C5 ... exploit the positive attributes associated with the same product, manufactured in another country. In this case, the quality and performance of German cars.
The Citroën UK, "Unmistakeably German" campaign, ( TV commercial and Website ), uses a cliché of German culture, through imagery, ( the German Count, the Bavarian Alps, the Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Olympic Stadium ) and a stirring, Ride of the Valkyries sound track, to link these positive German attributes to the C5.
Other elements of the campaign, offer a more humorous but direct approach, to forging this link:
The Advertising elements of the campaign are beautifully constructed, however the PR and Experiential elements of the campaign, also have a significant role to play. Product reviews will undoubtedly focus on the "Unmistakeably German" claim. Ultimately, however, it is only through experiencing the quality of the product, through events such as Ride & Drive and the business as usual showroom test drives, that potential buyers will be persuaded, that the car is, "unmistakeably German".
Geographic & Cultural Considerations.
Although the exploitation of positive cultural attributes, is often used in product positioning and brand development, such attempts are usually made, based upon the origins of the product or brand. As such, these activities can translate between different cultures and geographies. A classic example is the exploitation of attributes associated with Switzerland and Swiss Made, in the watch market.
In the case of the Citroën C5 campaign, such an approach will not translate across territories. The concept itself will not work in France, as it acts as a denial of their French heritage. Nor would it work in Germany. This failure is not due to the German stereotype in the execution, but due to the cultural pride in German engineering excellence. A more obvious analogy, would be marketing English wine in France, with the strap line "Unmistakeably French, *made in England". The French psyche, with its belief in the superiority of their wine making heritage, is simply not going to buy-in, to this claim.
This view is re-enforced by the different campaigns that have been used to launch the C5 in both France and Germany. Both of these campaigns, are more traditional, emphasising style, rather than quality, through the strap lines, "Distinguez-vous" ("Distinguish yourself") and "mehr Stil für die Straße" ("More style for the street").
Unmistakeably ...
For a fiercely proud French brand, this is a brave attempt to overcome their customer satisfaction issues. However, the impact on the remainder of the Citroën range must also be considered. If the the C5 is singled out as being "Unmistakeably German", is the rest of the range unmistakeably ...
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Sources:
* Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d' Automobiles (OICA) Correspondents survey 2006. Published - July 2007.
** Top Gear Survey 2006. Published - February 2007
