I’ve been tasked with revamping our company’s marketing materials. Our marketing gal quit a few months ago, and the marketing flyers that she left behind weren’t very impressive. They used tiny print and boring images, and the text that she used was duller than my uncle’s kitchen knives. My job is to rewrite all of her ad copy and introduce some more exciting images and layouts.
So, do you have any tips for how to create effective advertisements for a European audience?
Here’s an example of what I mean. In the USA, ad copy often starts or ends by asking the prospective customer a question (e.g., “What’s in your wallet?”). A German co-worker has advised me, however, that this isn’t customary in European advertising. She says that European customers prefer to be presented with direct information, rather than having the vendor pose a question. Other co-workers have disagreed, though.
There are some fairly big cultural differences there, so that’s probably the only advice I can give you (especially since I know nothing about advertisement), be more specific, and don’t treat europe as if it was one country, one culture.
For the Dutch, humor works; but humor is easily misinterpreted in other cultures.
French and Italian ads take any excuse, however flimsy, to incorporate a picture of a stylish, stunning model in their ad; it’s all about " fara la bella figura" make a good impression with outer appearances.
My best advice is to perfect the ad by your own USA standards. I’d say that, apart from some ads in the UK, you guys in the USA are just *better *in advertising copy, generally then Europeans are. Also, it doesn’t hurt to make the ad distinctly American. Most Europeans are somewhat familiar with American culture, and are generally positive about it, so you’ve got your unique selling point right there. Most ads from UK/USA directed at the Dutch public aren’t even translated or adapted. Most other countries will need a translation, though.
I concur on there not being an “European” audience for ads. (FWIW, specifically to a German audience a question like “What’s in your wallet?” wouldn’t go down well, because it’s familiarity by a stranger, very likely to be understood as impolite/pushy).
What’s it about? Business/investment goods/services or end consumer products?
Regional audience? (all of Europe or specific countries)?
Level of audience? (end consumers, professionals or managers?)
To be distributed in English only or to be translated?
In any event you should run the finished copy by members of the intended audience.
The ‘what’s in your wallet’ ads have been run on English TV for a while now. (I think it’s for an American credit card…)
There was a program on the 100 most popular ads in England recently.
Based on that, we like:
humour (one ad showed a chap taking off and washing his Levi jeans in a launderette. The male model - Nick Kamen - even released a pop single on the strength of the ad. There was a follow-up by Carling Lager with a further twist)
good music (the above ad featured ‘Heard it on the grapevine’ )
JThunder, I write copy for various Euro markets and get it translated - it’s part of my job.
I regret to reiterate that you must treat every single Euro country as a separate entity - there is so much cultural diversity. E.g. there are TV ads made in France and Germany, dubbed into English, simply don’t work over here in the UK; they get laughed at. Similarly the deadpan humour in most British ads doesn’t directly translate into many continental European cultural milieux.
Please feel free to email me directly, and I can attempt to offer more in-depth assistance, though the diversity of nationalities on the SDMB will probably offer better cultural insight.
I understand that Europe is not some monolithic entity, and I apologize if anyone construed it that way.
Having said that, we are a small company that doesn’t have the luxury of tailoring individual ad campaigns for each country. In addition, we serve a niche scientific market, so we need ad materials that can be distributed at scientific conferences and other international events. Hence the need for broad appeal.
The co-worker that I mentioned said that asking questions within an ad would be inappropriate for European audiences, not just Germans, Italians, or whatnot. I was skeptical about this assertion, but was wondering if there might be some truth to it. After all, while Europe is not monolithic, this does not preclude a certain degree of commonality.
So jjimm, I’d love to tap your expertise when it comes to individualized markets; however, that’s not really an option, given our target audience. Do you have any tips on how to create broadbased, transnational appeal?
BTW, this is all for print media. Due to our niche market, we won’t be creating any TV or radio ads anytime soon.
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