Take a look at this – the ‘clever’ new advert from Skoda, for the Fabia:
You may have noticed that I put ‘clever’ in suspicious quote marks… because the problem with this advert is it’s just trying too darn hard to be smart.
I want to like it – I really do – but it’s just too overly complicated in what it’s trying to say (‘this car will grab your attention’) Vs other car adverts that have tried this trick.
This advert from Mercedes, from a few years back, says ‘eye-catching car’ in a much simpler way:
And the trick has been tried (in not quite the same way), in other car adverts.
Remember the VW Polo ads, where they focussed on the ‘surprisingly ordinary prices’?
This new Skoda Fabia ad is too contrived, though.
The car had my attention because I was instructed to concentrate on it, not because I thought it was that amazing… and I did notice the colours change in the background, so, unfortunately, the new Skoda Fabia isn’t ‘truly attention-stealing’.
It’s a nice idea, but it tries just that little bit too hard.