Citroën celebrates its cutting edge advertising
One of the most innovative and talked about advertisements last year was Citroen’s C4 Dancing Robot, which won awards and brought thousands of people into showrooms around the world, and it is the latest in a long line of Citroen promotional innovations which are being celebrated in a unique exhibition at the world’s largest classic car show, ‘Retromobile’ in Paris this month (February 2006).
Citroen’s innovations including not just creative print and visual advertising, but also the use of model cars, the first major outdoor advertising – including using the entire height of the Eiffel Tower – and trans-continental expeditions, as well as being the first company to Direct Mail potential customers.
Naturally, Citroën's advertising has taken a variety of forms over the decades. But the objectives pursued – raising the Citroen's profile and promoting the values of style, comfort, and innovation across all markets – have remained unchanged.
André Citroën, father of automotive advertising
The saga started in 1919. André Citroën wasted no time in announcing the birth of the renowned 10 HP Type A. He even started broadcasting the good news a few months ahead of time, taking out full-page ads in the newspapers to proclaim the imminent launch of "France's first mass-produced car".
Not content with being one of the forerunners of industrial vehicle production, André Citroën also invented one of its allies: mass automotive communication.
Citroën on display
The first advertising media used by Citroën were illustrations and posters signed by well known artists of the time. A Citroën ad in 1919 showed 10 HPs hatching out of eggs laid by a rooster smoking a pipe in the shape of a chimney stack, symbolising the Javel plant.
Today, although the objective remains the same – to build the brand name and win customers – something that was much more significant in 1919 as the car had yet to fully establish itself as a new form of transport. In order to sell his cars in significant quantities, André Citroën therefore needed to quickly build up public support.
This pioneering age cannot be covered without mentioning one of Citroën's most creative colleagues: Pierre Loüys. Originally a car designer, he became artistic director in charge of Citroën’s photography and advertising in 1920. In this capacity, he designed many posters for the Marque, highlighting the models in the range and the new customer services.
Citroën is everywhere
But André Citroën, who was a communicator as much as a manufacturer, was not content simply to promote the company and its products. He developed new media. He even founded his own advertising department and his own print works: André Citroën Editeur. In 1921, he decided to send out brochures and prospectuses to the tens of thousands of potential customers listed on the company's files, an idea that many years later would be referred to as a mailshot.
The Marque's pre-war advertising is full of all sorts of original initiatives. In 1922, for example, the Marque donated 150,000 road signs to the French state. Seen around the entire country, the signs carried the double chevron logo and the words "donated by Citroën".
The same year, to mark the opening of the Paris Motor Show, an aircraft wrote the name of Citroën in letters of smoke in the sky. The now famous illumination of the Eiffel Tower in 1925, reflected the same approach. Some 250,000 light bulbs were used for the event, which was repeated over a period of ten years, adapting to the Marque's new products.
From the start of the 1920s, André Citroën looked beyond France, setting up commercial and industrial subsidiaries in all the major European countries. Sales caravans were on the road continuously, seeking to bring Citroën products to the attention of the public.
André Citroën used the most innovative and the most effective means available to promote his company and its products. A modern forward-thinking innovator who admired the many pioneers of the new century, he himself was gifted with a real sense of showmanship and flair. As illustrated by his invitation to Charles Lindbergh in 1927, asking the aviator to visit the Javel plant after his solo flight across the Atlantic. The headlines splashed across all the papers read "Lindbergh at Citroën", thus associating the Marque's name with the aura of glory surrounding Lindbergh.
Citroën's open outlook and taste for adventure were fully expressed in the Crossing of the Sahara (1922), and in the celebrated Croisière Noire (1924) and Croisière Jaune (1931). Through these expeditions, Citroën travelled, and caught the imagination of the public.
André Citroën also had an eye on future customers. He wanted every child's first words to be "mummy, daddy, Citroën". In 1923, he launched a range of toys including the famous Citroënettes, faithfully reproducing the models in the range.
Outstanding graphic design
In the years immediately after the war, Citroën's advertising took on a lower profile. This changed with the launch of the DS, when major campaigns were organised to highlight the styling and innovations of the new car. The brochures of the time are true works of art. Their flamboyant but rigorous approach combines product and image in a new way. Up to the end of the 1960s, the Delpire agency called upon the best artists, illustrators and photographers to come up with creative ideas for presenting the 2CV, Ami and DS. These adverts are considered to set the standard to this day.
High-impact images
From the 1980s, Citroën advertising took on a stronger "product" focus as part of a more global approach in which the car was the star that aimed to catch the imagination. The tone of the advertising played more on the emotions, and the qualities of the product were sublimated.
Advertising took off. Literally. In a celebrated 1985 ad, a Visa GTI is catapulted onto the bridge of the aircraft carrier Clémenceau alongside a Super Etendard plane. After a spectacular dive organised by stuntman Rémy Julienne, the car comes up again on the back of a submarine!
Citroën's advertising made great use of television, the main medium of mass communication, and called upon the biggest names of the time. Every campaign was an exploit. The best illustration of this is "The wild chevrons", the corporate film made in 1985. In the ad, a herd of around fifty horses gallop out of an underground car park and cross a deserted city – actually a district of Miami – to reach a dry and arid landscape where they form a double chevron. The film won a raft of prizes.
Artist Raymond Savignac placed the values of the Marque to the forefront. His work gave the chevrons a striking new look. Savignac said, quite rightly, that "a fixed image gets the mind moving" He designed a series of memorable posters, all with the same poetic touch, based on the theme and the slogan: "Forward Citroën!".
Each new product was an opportunity for a new advertising saga. A 1987 ad showed the AX on the Great Wall of China. "Revolutionary," said Mr. Xu, the elderly Chinese man. A word that echoed in people's minds, projecting the double chevron towards new and even greater horizons.
Citroën, an advertising pioneer
One of the key components of André Citroën's hard-hitting and unconventional advertising strategy was the ability to develop the renown of the company and its products by turning the spotlight on the many and varied strong points likely to interest the public.
This strategy proved its modern-day relevance in 2000, in the memorable ad showing a mischievous robot painting its own design on the Xsara Picasso, to the tune of "Je ne veux pas travailler", by Pink Martini. This period marked a turning point for the Citroën brand, expressed through new styling and an expanded range. Soon, the C2, C3 and C3 Pluriel superminis were to revitalize the Citroën range and become highly successful.
In 2005, Citroën's approach to advertising reflected the same pursuit of innovation with "The Robot Dancer", a film for the C4 that was made using the latest in digital tools. Citroën called upon the best talents and the best techniques to serve the advertising positioning selected for the C4: "Alive with Technology". The film was hugely popular and the model itself is a commercial success.
Citroën and advertising clearly go hand-in-hand.
The exhibition of Citroën Advertising through the years is at Retromobile 2006, which is held in Paris from 10 – 19 February.
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For further information:
Citroën Australia Media Web Site: http://media.ateco.com.au/
Miles Williams
/ Tel: (02) 9701 8020General Manager / Fax: (02) 9701 3555
Citroën Australia / Mob: 0419 800 520
E-Mail:
Edward Rowe
/ Tel: (02) 9701 8015Public Relations Manager / Fax: (02) 9701 3555
Citroën Australia / Mob: 0407 913 244
E-Mail:
Web site: www.Citroën.com.au
Citroën Australia
Street Address: Heritage Building, Campus Business Park, 350 Parramatta Road, Homebush NSW 2140 Australia. Postal Address: Ateco Automotive Pty Ltd,Locked Bag 260, Silverwater, NSW 1811, Australia
Telephone: 02 9701 8000; Direct Telephone 02 9701 8015 Fax: 02 9701 3555. Mobile +61 0407 913 244
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Release number: 634
Date of issue: 2/11/2006 Release Time: 10:46:31