Questionable creativity

I know I've picked on car ads before but these big ticket items seem to attract big budget drivel.

Ford are airing some particularly pretentious pap on UK television screens these days. For example, people floating their old ugly cars off with balloons once they've seen a Mondeo. Or, more obscurely, a bunch of TVs with art displayed on them driving around a city at night before they turn into the new Fiesta. Maybe I just don't get it. Maybe I'm being unfair.

It seems that the Fiesta ad presents the car as the "spirit of now". I'm paraphrasing a bit but according to the ad agency's blog, the images on the TV screens are works defining the essence of modern life and culture today by cutting-edge creative talent from all over Europe. You can read more about the ad on the Ogilvy blog here. There's also a link to watch it if you want.

Hmm yes. very clever. Although I'm not sure David Ogilvy would have approved of such an indulgence in his name.

Being called "the creative industries", advertising companies forget their role demands more than making stuff up. They perform a marketing function. Maybe if they were referred to as "the creative marketing industries" they would remember that they were paid to sell stuff.

In contrast, I saw an ad for the Vauxhall Zafira the other day that creatively promoted one of the key differentiating benefits of this product. It showed the vehicle driving around while people made effortless adjustments to their normally static environment to make life easier. For example, two cars needed to pass in a narrow alley, so a man in the alley gives a building a little push to make the alley wider, and so on. Before the ad is finished we see that two extra seats fold out of the floor in the boot when you need them.

Ask yourself - would you choose a car because the ad is arty, or because you can share the school run with one of the neighbours?

Someone tell me I'm wrong.