WRITING - Review (part 2)

Núria Lorente C2

The art of advertising: selling products through films

E

Smart Forfour

Advertising has become a new art of production and marketing. It represents the 69% of the
incomes in audiovisual media. Therefore, it is vital that an advert is new, moving and creative
with a main ingredient: ingenuity. Nowadays, advertisements are focused on well-produced
short films beyond the old plain spots seen in the last decade whose objective was to show the
product itself. Today, one of my favourite advert is the Smart Forfour car, which is a simple and
clever spot with sense of humour.

The star attraction is clearly a car, which is in a city trying to be parked. When the driver is
about to manoeuvre, he looks back and he gives a shout when he sees somebody else behind
(possibly his friend); he gets completely "shocked" (as the name of the advertising campaign
indicates) because he sees his friend behind and then he realises that it is a four-seater vehicle.
Later, it appears the slogan "The new smart forfour, so smart you forget it's a four seater".

Images are shown as a normal routine day in a city paying special attention inside the car at the
moment of parking. Apparently, there is no special visual effects but the movements of the car
are slow, perfect and precise to emphasise the exterior and the interior car. Then, everything is
advancing faster. Indeed, the advertiser exhibits the compactness and agility of the car by
playing with zoom shots, showing little details bigger. Special attention is paid to the new
feature, a spacious vehicle, by performing an spontaneous gag (the man shocked). In addition,
car's design, music and young actors provide modernity and dynamism to the Smart Forfour.

In short, adverts have a great impact on us because its effectiveness and persuasion. They
achieve we believe in them, in impossible things (as they were possible) because ads are
shown as the best solution for our lives. At present, astonishing publicity means a guarantee of
success so investing in great spots are the key for increasing sales.