You will no doubt know by now that I like cars and motorsport. One of the themes that has emerged in my blogs is linking architecture with cars and also my business development work. I lead business development for Lewis and Hickey and I find marketing, in its many different forms, intriguing and interesting. I am a big believer in social media and have significantly raised both mine and my companies profile through LinkedIn, Twitter and also this blog. This form of marketing works and can connect you to new people in a fairly targeted way. I’ve had some great feedback recently on the blog and The high tech house of Sir Stirling Moss especially has a big hitter.

In a broader consumer/ retail context, advertising is important work and can be incredibly powerful in terms of promoting new services and products, but can also change opinions and perceptions of brands. However, if you get it wrong it can also damage your brand. Risky business some might say. Its also very expensive! John Lewis have become known for their annual Christmas advert. I quite liked the 2011 one called ‘Please, please, please‘ (especially as I have young daughter). This has had five million views on YouTube alone – that is people actually wanting to watch it! 2012’s advert was called ‘The Journey’ and features a Snowman. This advert has had three million views as well. Both have a strong emotive angle to them, in both the story and the music.

The weekly car magazine Auto Express recently ran a poll to determine ‘the best car advert ever‘. Car adverts are probably the amongst the highest budget television commercials produced. To give some context/ comparison to their importance; electrical products are trying to promote low/ modest cost products and high volume sales, whereas car companies want to promote reasonable volume sales of very high cost products. A tall order, especially in these economic times. Also brand perception is a huge element of promoting and selling cars and this can be heavily influenced by marketing – especially adverts.

So here’s The top 20 best car adverts ever, as voted for by Auto Express readers. I have linked the titles to their website, so you can watch the adverts and get the synopsis of each story. They are worth a look…

1. Honda Accord: The Cog
2. Ford Puma: Steve McQueen
3. Peugeot 206: The Sculptor
4. Citroen C4: Transformers
5. Volkswagen Golf GTI: Changes
6. Volkswagen Passat: The Force
7. Skoda Fabia: A piece of cake
8. Renault Clio: Nicole and Papa
9. Fiat Strada: Hand built by robots
10. Volkswagen Golf GTI: Singing in the rain
11. Toyota GT 86: The real deal
12. Peugeot 405: Take my breath away
13. Vauxhall Meriva and Zafira: Little dads
14. Land Rover: Discovery 4
15. Audi A4: Not my style
16. Volkswagen Golf: Best left alone
17. Vauxhall Astra: Babies
18. Skoda Fabia: Factory tour
19. Nissan Almera: Sweeney
20. Toyota Corolla: A car to be proud of

There are a couple of these that I don’t remember personally, but my favorites are; The Cog, The Sculptor, A piece of Cake and Little Dads. I think the story of the Audi A4 advert is clever and funny, with its reverse psychology and 80’s mobile phone holding Yuppie! From the list, it would appear that VW have achieved a consistently strong TV commercial production record. Making a product look great, with an emotive story and carefully selected music seem to be the necessary components to success. Some initial intrigue or mystery in the story makes it more engaging for the viewer too. I would imagine selling services, as opposed to physical products, is arguably much more difficult to do.

Next week I will be doing some filming in Manchester for some promotional work we are involved in. I’m looking forward to getting an insight to this work. I’ve got Directors notes to read and I’m told I need to be there early to have my camera make-up applied! When the short interview style piece has been published I will share it with you.

The main message I can take from this blog is that brand perception can be hugely important. How you publicly convey your product and/ or company has a direct impact on how your target clients see you…and therefore their decision to talk to, or work with you. Advertising, in its may forms, is without doubt hugely powerful.

We will be launching a brand new website in the next few weeks. This has been a personal project of mine. I hope it too conveys a much more contemporary impression of our business and our recent work. Watch this space for its official launch soon…