Mike Moran, the commercial director of Toyota GB, has struck out
against pan-European advertising, accusing it of reaching ’the lowest
common denominator for every country’.
In a hard-hitting speech delivered at the Marketing Forum, Moran said
that research carried out among the marketing fraternity proved that 82
per cent would not be proud to have their name associated with a number
of European ads.
Moran added: ’Pan-Europeanisation in the context of above-the-line
communication is a complete waste of time. Anyone chasing the holy grail
of an ad which will appeal to a Brit, a German and a Frenchman is a
jerk.’
In his research, he sent out a videotape of pairs of ads in sectors such
as beer, credit cards and soft drinks which aired in the UK to the
hundred-odd marketing directors and managers who were to attend the
forum. One of each pair was created solely for the UK market, while the
other was created with a pan-European market in mind.
In the comparisons, the UK ads scored consistently higher in each of
four categories: credibility, appeal, insightfulness and motivation.
The majority of the UK ads achieved scores considered ’outstanding’,
while the Euro ads were largely falling to the ’poor’ end of the
scale.
Moran added that the normal defence of pan-European advertising is the
economy of scale it creates, but that the benefits of this were
outweighed by the loss of effectiveness and brand awareness.
