German Ads (Part 4)

There were a few German ads we found that did not fit into the previous posts but deserve mention.  Here they are, mostly self-explanatory. 

Some of you might even have Henckels/Zwilling knives - they want you to know the knives are sharp.

Most of you probably have tried Toblerone too. 

Sixt is one of the largest car rental companies in Germany, and known for their witty ads (and low prices).  Here they can't resist a jab at the French:

"Do what Madame [Carla] Bruni did:  get yourself a small Frenchman."

German Ads (Part 3)

We kept looking after our first posts on German ads, and there is yet more interesting German media and copy out there.  There were photos flying around the Web of the German trucks with almost trompe l'oeil-like paintings on them... it turns out that these were not real.  They were, however, real advertising concepts submitted to a competition.

The urban legend was debunked, as always, by Snopes.

The competition is called the Rhino Awards, and the results were from 2005.   There are other submissions to be seen on their web site, and later competitions from 2007 as well.  But these are still the best. 

Hanging Pepsi...

Double sided / wrong way truck...  ("On the wrong track/path?")

Canvas bag... 

Germans use the word for bread ("brot") to denote fresh bakery loaves, often oval in shape.  For the mass-produced, square-ish, white-bread loaves they use the word "toast", probably because they would never eat this without toasting it first (and it fits perfectly in the toaster).  This is the msot common brand of "toast" in Bavaria, possibly all of Germany.

And an acquarium...

 

Again, check out the web site of the Rhino Awards for more. 

German Ads (Part 2)

We've blogged a little about German sense of humor, and German/Swiss creative advertisements, so it's time to see some more catchy ads.

These ads come from on online jobs site called JobsInTown.  The don't even try to be cute with the message, and just print it directly:  "Life's too short for the wrong job!".  A couple of interesting aspects:

• They put the tagline in English.  Probably because most people using online job sites are proficient in English (and more), and using English also sends different messages (forward/broader thinking, free spirited, etc.)
• They put an exclamation point at the end of the sentence.  Germans put exclamation points at the end of a LOT more sentences than English speakers do (also in German, not just when using English).  Even in the most boiler-plate emails at work, I will see exclamation points all over the place.  It fits to the conflict-oriented cluture here (speak loudly to get noticed).
• These ads really differentiated themselves by placement -- locations beyond the run-of-the-mill billboards. 

Here's the accountant in the bank machine: 

The washerwoman in the washing machine: 

Can I call her a "barista" in the coffee machine? 

And my favorite, the guy underneath the child's ride.

You can see the entire campaign here (a few more... the video game and jukebox are also fun.)  Hopefully it was successful for the company.

German Ads (Part 1)

German culture might not have the same element of subtlety as our Anglo one, but you do see it sometimes.  (One of the main English speaking community websites in Germany had an interesting discussion about lack of subtlety here.)

In this case, the Sonntags Zeitung ("Sunday Newspaper" from Zurich, Switzerland) ran a series of print advertisements with the tagline "The Insight Story".  The idea is to show that their newspaper gets to the core of the news, and tells what is really going on... or at least gives unique perspectives on the topics of the day.

They use Russian-style Matryoshka dolls as the metaphor for the message.  Here are Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni.

Of course, Obama has to be included.  He's extremely popular over here and undoubtedly a fascinating figure globally.

No European newspaper would be complete without at least one supermodel photo (although this newspaper does NOT have a daily topless woman like some others...)  It's my favorite of the bunch. 

You need a villian too, so the Russians will fill that role nicely. 

Young & Rubicon are credited with the campaign, and the entire collection (a few more) can be found here.  Well done.