‘Cliche’ car ads charge is unfair
Lucy Barrett’s article on pan-European car advertising “Gearing down” (MW April 6) is muddled, poorly edited, and an oversimplification of the facts.
She describes the UK car campaigns of the past 20 years as “lavish and wasteful”, but then goes on to praise local creativity.
The so-called 15 per cent contribution that advertising makes towards the cost of a UK car an erroneous calculation based on total marketing and media costs. The cost of local productions are a tiny fraction of the £750m media spend, and so pan-European advertising provides a negligible saving to the total cost.
Finally, not all pan-European ads have to ” resort to cliches”. In the opinion of British consumers the latest (pan-European) Fiat Brava commercial is funny, memorable and above all else, a relevant observation on what real family life is like. Some insights do travel, and not a desert or lake in sight.
Daniel Taylor
Board Account Director
D’Arcy, London
