ADVERTiSiNG: iT'S A CULTURAL THiNG

Client: InterSport
Agency: AdmCom Bologna, Italy

If you saw this ad in North America, I'm quite sure it would not be long before you started hearing complaints about the image's content. However, if I were to tell you it was produced by an Italian agency for an Italian client, posted up in the city of Rome, where a group of strolling nuns is nothing out of the ordinary, well..that just about changes everything doesn't it?

Client: Volkswagen
Agency: Lowe Zürich, Switzerland

Targeting the right audience, and speaking to them directly is a critical part of advertising. It is a great enough challenge already to communicate efficiently to the selected market in a country that speaks one language, so how do you go about that in a country where they speak four? Using cultural reference and popular knowledge is one of the most exploited means to vehicle an idea. Yet as we've seen, the universality of a message can often be limited by geographical borders and linguistic barriers.

Client: Volkswagen
Agency: KSB/SJ Zürich, Switzerland

Does anyone who isn't German get this?
In central Europe, it is custom when transporting large objects that exceed the car's space to place a little red handkerchief at the end in order to signal other drivers' attention. Is this a good ad? If its target audience understands, does it matter that we might not? If German Volkswagen distributors are making a profit, then for all intents and purposes it must be.