Motoring? Give Me An OOH! Advertising seen through the untrained eye of Derek Thompson

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Sit back and relax, as we take a look at some recent Out of Home car ads. Much like Bank Holiday driving, it’s not about reaching a destination but more of an opportunity to look around at the other cars.

A word of warning: I am not a car expert. I thought torque was cheap and that brake horsepower would be a useful safety feature at the Grand National. It turns out that it’s more complicated than that and even the difference between those two terms is often misunderstood.

Okay, enough chitchat. Let’s see some cars.

Ford Kuga ad

FORD KUGA: IT IS BIG & IT IS CLEVER!

It is Big & It is Clever!

Branding: The Ford logo looms larger than the national deficit, sharing equal billing with the car itself.

Innovation and Impact: Unambiguously, Ford is selling on the strength of the brand and the shiny new model rather than any of its smart features.

Message: Go Further.

Thoughts: Not sure why it’s parked on a purple version of the old Japanese flag, unless it’s an oblique reference to Ford’s decision to withdraw from their car market last year. The ‘Go Further’ tag line reminds me of Land Rover’s old line ‘Go Beyond’.

Audi A5 ad

AUDI A5: ALL-NEW BUT ONLY SIDE-ON

All-New but only side-on

Branding: It’s an Audi, but blink and you’ll miss that. It’s a big ask to travel from logo to brand and all the way down to the car in a matter of seconds.

Innovation and Impact: Audi is either confident of its brand recognition or relying on the centre of the ad generating viewer curiosity before the lights go green. The side view shows the new model’s profile but not much else.

Message: The all-new.

Thoughts: The ad design reminded me of The Matrix (only the first one, which we had a chance of understanding!) crossed with a Star Trek transporter. The sci-fi graphics tie in with the message and a TV ad extends that metaphor. But that’s an awful lot of text at the bottom, unless you’re stuck in roadworks.

Jaguar XP ad

JAGUAR XF: URBAN & URBANE - FOR THE RIGHT DEMOGRAPHIC

Urban & Urbane – for the right demographic

Branding: The upper messages stand out, but the Jaguar logo would be better larger and you could easily miss the model in the top left corner. The same goes for the lower message, which has sidelined with the Ts & Cs.

Innovation and Impact: An aspirational ad that uses the model’s photogenic looks to good effect. As a luxury brand they won’t expect to appeal to everyone, so the setting is more global HQ then NCP car park.

Message: Life pushes you to compromise. Push back. The art of performance.

Thoughts: Good photography and no distractions because they know that the car’s the star. I’d lose some of the tarmac though. And am I the only one who thinks the front grill is reminiscent of a Bentley?

Land Rover ad

Land Rover Discovery: The hills are alive with the sound of four-wheel.

The hills are alive with the sound of four-wheel.

Branding: You won’t know it’s a Land Rover until you see the logo (although maybe that’s the point?). The model name is almost hidden away at the top and the message below the logo doesn’t catch the eye.

Innovation and Impact: Crisp photography shows the Landy doing what it does best. The accompanying image is one of a series, each showing a Land Rover in natural locations, which ties in well with the messages.

Message: Adventure. It’s in our DNA. Above & Beyond.

Thoughts: The wide-angle shots celebrate the great outdoors with nary a speck of mud on the bodywork – that’s the magic of advertising! LR seems to understand its brand and demographic well, although a Landy doing a 500-yard school run might have made an interesting addition to the campaign!

Overview

Call me biased (I am a writer after all), but I was struck by how incidental the tag line messages were in the advertising. Also, less prominence was given to the specific model than the logo and brand, suggesting a stylistic choice to target those looking to buy into a brand rather than consumers who want a certain type of vehicle.

Check out our Q1-2017 Motoring OOH ad Gallery

Thanks to Derek Thompson, our own ‘out-of-home’ Fifth Columnist, for his views of this quarter’s ads