car advertising crash

I must say I am a bit disappointed with the last Peugeot and Citroën campaigns.

Let’s talk first about Peugeot. I am a big fan of the brand and its vehicles but also of its agency BETC Euro RCG. Many previous campaigns were nothing but brilliant as the “toys” TVC can attest for example.

In 2010, Peugeot wants to switch its communication and adopt a more global identity. BETC and BETC design came back with a new signature “motion & emotion” and a new logo. The new signature is clearly aligned with the brand’s volition and the logo (even if you need some time to get used to it) is also perfectly reflecting the brand and its innovative DNA. I bet people won’t even remember the old one in a few months!

On the creative side, the spot is very well executed. The animations and images are really nice and the Yuksek – Tonight – song is a hit!

Here is the new website:  www.new-peugeot.com

What about Citroën?

Their last TVC featuring Sebastien Loeb is really hard to catch. Based on the famous “I love NY” (but already saw used and seen..) the agency H created the “I loeb Citröen”campaign.

Even if the Citroën rallyman is famous and popular in France I can’t get the idea. I find it quite limited as there is nothing behind the word gimmick. The ads are slow and hard to understand.

In this case, it is just a short campaign, not a real brand strategy fortunately.

PSA (Citroën and Peugeot) and Renault are the biggest French car manufacturers. Their place in the French industry is quite big even if they are very global companies. As the French car market is getting much better and sales are significantly increasing (for the first time since quite long!), these brands should not forget their French consumers or lost them with too easy marketing.