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Spain 
Latest update: 23 December 2005 |
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Hand-filtered
news from the online mainstream and trade press designed to give topical insight into
Spanish advertising and marketing, life and lifestyles............. 05.12.05
Spain's Institute for Women's Affairs is to set up a commission to monitor the portrayal of women in advertising, writes the newspaper El Mundo. The commission, the Institute's head, Rosa Peris, tells the paper, will be made up of advertisers, agencies and consumer associations. Its announcment follows the release of figures by the country's 'Sexist Advertising Observatory', which show that 171 complaints were made by members of the public in 2004. Although this figure is slightly lower than that recorded during 2003, when 177 complaints were made, 14 companies were asked to withdraw or change their advertising during the year. The Comission will come into operation in the first half of 2006, El Mundo says, and will release statements saying when it considers advertising unacceptable, although it has no formal regulatory capacity.
According to the sexist advertising observatory, campaigns for Axe men's care, Siemens household appliances, the soft drink Kas Naranja and rum brand Don Barceló (shown) were the most complained about. To read a longer version of this story for yourself, in Spanish, click on the link below (left) to see it on the El Mundo website. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to visit the Don Barceló site or click here to see a fuller version of the article translated into English by From Europe With Love.
24.11.05
Christmas is traditionally high season for advertisers of food products, particularly those aimed at children, says the Spanish trade magazine Marketing Directo. This year, however, they will not be able to use celebrities such as Rafael Nadal or Ronaldinho, due to regulations recently agreed by government authorities with leading manufacturers. According to article 13.2 of the PAOS code, as the regulations are known and which was introduced in September, advertisers are prohibited from using well-known people in their campaigns or otherwise suggest that products can produce unreal effects (such as allowing children to fly). Over 80% of companies have already signed up voluntarily to the code, Marketing Directo says. But while celebrities are ruled out, their relatives are not and one company has already taken advantage of this to use the mother of motorcyclist Dani Pedrosa in its advertising. It remains to be seen whether the ban on celebrity spokespeople also applies to famous fictional figures such as Father Christmas or traditional elements of Christmas such as the 3 Kings, whose arrival is celebrated each year in most Spanish cities with a procession. Decisions on each case will be made by Autocontrol, the advertising industry's self-regulatory authority. Click on the link below (left) to read a longer version of this story for yourself, in Spanish, on the Marketing Directo website. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to visit Autocontrol and explore what they do, in Spanish or English.
22.11.05
On average, Spaniards consume 17% fewer calories each day now than they did in 1964, says the business newspaper Cinco Días. Obesity rates, however, continue to rise, with 14% of those aged between 2 and 24 years old ajudged to be obese and an additional 26% said to have problems of overweightedness. In part this is down to a lack of activity, Cinco Días says, with only 37% of the population regularly taking part in sport. While increasing participation in sport may help the problem, from the industry side, manufacturers and retailers have taken a number of measures to try to improve the situation. McDonalds, Cinco Días says, introduced a range of salads onto its menus last year, Unilever is actively researching new, healthier product lines and the managing director of United Biscuits for Spain and Portugal headed up a working group dedicated to the subject of diet, physical activity and health. Beyond this, moves have been made to more strictly control advertising of food products to children, with 33 companies - and who account for 70% of all food targeted at children - signing up to a self regulation code. In under two months, Cinco Días says, more than 200 ads have been submitted to the committee for advice and/or approval. Labelling, too, has changed. Since July, new packaging has been introduced which details what the product contains in terms of calories, proteins, carbohydrates and fats. One company that has opted to go down the route of giving more nutritional information, Cinco Días says, is Kelloggs, which includes on its label an 'RDD' ('Recomendación Dietética Diaria') strip in which it states how much sugar, salt and fat are contained in each 30 grammes of the product. Follow the link below (left) to see a longer version of this story for yourself, in Spanish, on the Cinco Días website. Alternatively, to visit the Kellogg's Spain website, click on the link below (right).
09.05.05
For many years, Spain was one of the countries with the highest proportion of spending on food, as a percentage of all income, anywhere in Europe. Times are changing, however, and figures released this week by the bank Caixa Catalunya show that Spanish families' expenditure on housing now exceeds that on food. Weekly shopping for groceries and other household goods has lost in relative importance, says the newspaper El Periódico, as a result of the cost in the price of buying and renting living space. According to the bank's latest figures, between 1990 and the year 2000, the average Spanish family directed 30% of its income into paying for that space, compared to 18% on food. "This change corresponds to the trend observed in other countries in which wealth is increasing", Xavier Segura, head of studies at Caixa Catalunya, tells the paper. "The richer they are, the lower the proportion of the household budget spent on food". A growing preference for rented accomodation and for better-equipped living space has also contributed to the shift, El Periódico says. Follow the link below (left) to see a longer version of this story for yourself, in Spanish, on the El Periódico website. Alternatively, to visit Caixa Catalunya's website, click on the link below (right).
03.05.05
Luis Mesquita, managing director of Unilever's Spanish ice cream subsidiary, Frigo, predicted this week that sales of healthier, 'light' ice creams would account for 20% of the total within the next five years. Speaking in the newspaper El Periódico, Mesquita said that achieving greater sales with products containing less fat and sugar, but more milk and fruit, was part of Unilever's growth strategy for its ice cream business. The 'healthy' segment of the Spanish ice cream market currently only accounts for around 6% of sales, El Periódico says. His statement coincided with the parent company announcing that it was to spend 50 million euros worldwide in researching and developing new products with better dietary profiles. Bernd Ellmann, vice-president of the company's European ice cream business, tells the paper that Unilever plans to reduce sugar content by 20% and increase the amount of fruit by between 10% and 15%. Ellmann added, El Periódico says, that these changes were in line with what consumers were telling the firm in market research surveys, on which it spends around € 25 million per year. As regards Spain, Mesquita says that sales of company-owned ice cream brands in Spain rose by 3% last year, with 65% of sales being out of home and 35% going through the grocery channel. To see this story for yourself, in Spanish, on the El Periódico website, follow the link below (left). Alternatively, to visit Frigo - which, naturally, looks much like other Unilever-owned brands in terms of design - simply click on the link below (right).
25.04.05
Telefónica, Spain's leading telecoms company, a position it enjoys as a result of previously having been a state monopoly, has agreed to withdraw an advertisement that angered at least one opposition party, writes the newspaper El Mundo. The ad, El Mundo says, was described as ''not smart and inappropriate" by Inés Sabanés, a spokeswoman for the left-entrenched group Izquierda Unida (IU), this week. It has been sent out via e-mail to users of Telefónica's online services, providing a link to the company's website with a view to promoting the company's fixed line phone services The e-mail showed a recently made bed and meal and a pile of freshly ironed clothes, with the slogan - and why not, in Spanish - 'La cama hecha todos los días, la comida siempre caliente, la ropa en perfecto estado. ¿Todavía crees que lo hacía un pequeño duende? Porque ella se lo merece, regálaselo el Día de la madre' - (English translation: 'Your bed made every day, meals always served hot, your clothes in the way you want them. You still think it's the fairies that do this? She deserves it, give her a present this Mother's Day). According to Sabanés, the ad is "completely sexist", given that it assumes that the mother is the person ensuring that everybody's beds are made, meals are cooked and clothes are ironed. Telefónica, she adds, had marked a return to the 'stone age'. Spokesmen for Telefónica say that the company has a "proven practice of equality and social and personal sensitivity", regretting that some people might consider the advertisement sexist, El Mundo says. The ad was aimed at children and was never intended to be deemed as sexist. Nevertheless, it agreed to withdraw it "in deference to the interpretation that some people appear to have given the advertisement which was never within Telefónica's spirit". To see this story for yourself, in Spanish, on the El Mundo website, follow the link below (left). Alternatively, to visit Telefónica, simply click on the link below (right).
18.04.05
The commercial communications industry, which accounts for 3% of Spain's Gross National Product, pleaded at its annual assembly this week that "advertising needs more free-to-air TV channels, as soon as possible". Advertisers and their agencies, the Spanish advertisers association Asociación Española de Anunciantes (AEA) are having difficulty in placing their ads because of a lack of space. Th association has compiled a report and proposals to be passed on to the government on the issue, says the Spanish business newspaper Expansión. The report points out, among other things, Expansión says, that over the past decade, effectiveness of advertising has decreased significantly, while saturation has risen constantly, reaching record levels in 2004, during which around 20% of space agencies wanted to book could not be booked because of lack of space on the country's free-to-ar, 'generalist' channels. Spain, the AEA notes, is among the European countries with the lowest number of such channels. To see this story for yourself, in Spanish, follow the link below (left) to see it on the Expansión website. Alternatively, to visit the AEA, just click on the link below (right).
11.04.05
Spain's advertising agencies handled € 3.1 billion-worth of billings during 2004, equivalent to 51% of all money invested in above-the-line media during the year, according to a report produced by media auditor Infoadex and published by the trade magazine, Ipmark. With € 358.7 million, McCann Erickson reported the highest figure, Infoadex says, followed by Young & Rubicam (€274.3 million), DDB (€221.7 million), Bassat Ogilvy & Mather (€205.2 million) and FCB/Tapsa (€200.2 million). The next five places in Infoadex's ranking are occupied by Grey (180), Euro RSCG Lorente (171.4), Tempo BBDO (171.2), Publicis (136.6) and TBWA (128.5), with JWT (105.4) and Vitruvio Leo Burnett (94.6) just outside the top ten. As for advertisers, the list was once again topped by the national department store chain El Corte Inglés (€74.5 million), followed by the mobile phone company Movistar (€70.6 million), Danone (€43.7 million), Vodafone (€40.9 million) and the charity for the blind, ONCE, which spent €40.2 million. To read more on this and other stories at Ipmark, in Spanish, you'll need to follow the link below (left). Alternatively, to visit Infoadex, click on the link below (right).
04.04.05
Telefónica, the Spanish-based telecoms firm with extensive international interests, has entrusted Publicis with the task of communicating the rebranding of its Telefónica Moviles mobile phone division as 'Movistar', reports the Spanish newspaper La Bolsa. Ads have already broken in some countries, La Bolsa says, based around phrases such as 'Léeme' ('Read me'), 'Bésame ('Kiss me') and 'Sígueme' ('Follow me'), in each of which the 'm' is a stylised version of the new corporate logo but in none of which the company's name is actually mentioned. The new 'M-based' logo will differ from that currently used in Spain (above) and be applied globally. The rebrand will allow Telefónica to assimilate a host of acquired companies under a single identity, La Bolsa says, except for those in Brazil and Morocco which are operated in conjunction with partners. A second phase of the advertising campaign is due to break on Wednesday April 6th. Click on the link below to read more on this and other stories, in Spanish, on the La Bolsa website. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to visit the not-yet-rebranded, Spanish-language site of Telefónica Movistar.
30.03.05
After a 15 year battle, Nike International has finally emerged victorious in its struggle to be able to use the 'Nike' brand on clothing in Spain, writes the business newspaper Cinco Días. Spain's supreme court this week ruled that Cidesport, a Catalunya-based companu which owned the local rights to the name between 1980 and 1989. Upon expiry of the licence, Cidesport purchased a local trademark, also named 'Nike', which had been registered in Spain in 1932 but was barely used. This ploy enabled Cidesport to continue to use the Nike brand, a practice contested by the US-based sports and fashionwear maker ever since. A law published in 2001 gave increased support to Nike's case, affording greater protection to brands with which the public is particularly familiar, the 'marcas renombradas'. The law lays down that a brand owner is not obliged to register the name against the entire range of products it could potentially be applied to, in order to enjoy protection. Cidesport's defence had included asking for a Spanish court to annul the right of American Nike and Nike International to register the brand at all in Spain, a request indeed granted by the Supreme Court in 1999. This latest judgement reverses that decision. Click on the link below (left) to read a longer version of this story for yourself, in Spanish, on the Cinco Días website. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to visit Nike's football site, in Spanish.
21.03.05
Recent initiatives designed to limit the amount of television watched by Spanish children and to direct them away from adult programming appear to be having only a limited effect, says the newspaper El Mundo. Indeed, if figures released by industry consultants GECA are to be believed, viewing figures actually go up following the broadcast of short programmes encouraging kids to go to bed. According to its research, between 8pm and 9pm an average 622,000 four to eight year-olds are sitting in front of Spanish TV screens, a figure that rises to 835,000 after the 9pm 'watershed' when reminder programmes such as "Las tres mellizas" are aired, peaking at 10pm with a total of 915,000 young viewers. Click on the link below (left) to read this story for yourself, in Spanish, on the El Mundo website. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to visit the website of the programme "Los lunnis", which, similarly to "Las tres mellizas", aims to persuade children to switch off and go to bed after the hour of 9 o'clock.
14.03.05
One lament of British shoppers, as retail chains have grown larger and strengthened their presence across the country, is that many town centres look just the same as each other - the same stores, same names and so on. Now, it seems, Spanish consumers may be set to echo their complaints, with the news that 27 retailers are clubbing together to negotiate lower prices with shopping and commercial centres. The 27 include such well-known names as Häagen Dazs, Adolfo Dominguez, Prenatal, Caffe di Roma and Chico, with others intending to join should the initiative prove successful. A formal association will be unveiled on March 30th, says the business newspaper Cinco Dias. Among its target markets will be older buildings in need of renovation and town centres which could also do with an injection of money and energy. "It's difficult for a company on its own to site its outlets in non-prime locations and attract the public. But if we do it as a group, we can convert the district or zone into a top-grade commercial centre, without having to pay the kind of prices which are asked, for example, in teh Paseo de Gracia in Barcelona or Serrano in Madrid. We have the brands and the ability to attract the public", Fernando Trebolle, a representative of the Adolfo Dominguez fashion chain tells Cinco Dias. To see what else Trebolle told the newspaper, in Spanish, click on the link below (left) to read this story for yourself on the Cinco Dias website. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to visit Adolfo Dominguez at the company's Spanish website.
11.11.04
Saatchi & Saatchi has developed a new campaign designed to build acceptance of Spain's gypsy communities among the general population, says the Spanish industry newsletter Marketing Directo. The work has been produced on behalf of the Fundación Secretariado Gitano, a non-governmental interest group which was able to call on financing from the European Social Fund and uses the slogan "Conócelos antes de juzgarlos" ("Know them before you judge them"). Its aim is to bring to an end the prejudices that still exist in Spain against gypsies, Marketing Directo says. The agency's approach draws a parallel between this and other forms of discrimination which would appear unkust or unjustified were they to occur: for example, if a bus driver were to react to the refusal of one passenger to pay his fare by throwing all his passengers off the bus. Developed with the aid of qualitative studies among both the public and gypsies, the campaign takes in TV, radio, internet, outdoor and merchandising and will run in two waves - one now and a second to launch in spring 2005. Click on the link below (left) to read this story and see an example from the campaign for yourself, in Spanish, on the Marketing Directo website. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to visit Saatchi & Saatchi's Spanish website or - recommended - here to go to the gitanos.org website where you can see versions of the campaign prepared for the internet and examples of all the pieces ('piezas').
10.11.04
Spanish hypermarkets are reducing the amount of space given over to food in favour of items such as telephone equipment, household appliances and clothing in an effort to regain market share, writes the business newspaper Cinco Días. Although chain managers such as José Maria Folache, of Carrefour, insist they are healthy market competitors, the share of retail sales accounted for by hypermarkets, Cinco Días says, has fallen from 20% five years ago to 19% today. Over the same period, supermarkets with a floorspace exceeding 1,000 square metres have grown their share from 12% to 19% while smaller outlets have risen from 17% to 20%. Clearly, there have to be losers other than hypermarkets and these, perhaps predictably and according to figures from AC Nielsen, are teh smaller supermarkets and 'traditional' stores, whose slice of the retail market has fallen from 16% to 14% and from 35% to 28% respectively. 3,500 shops per year are clsing their doors, against an average 900 supermarkets and 14 hypermarkets opening theirs. Despite the increasingly-competitive environment, Carrefour's José Maria Folache believes Spain still has room for around 150 more hypermarkets (there are currently around 400). To survive, and in addition to the modifications to their ranges they have already made, they will need to place increased emphasis on services. Click on the link below (left) to read a longer version of this story for yourself, in Spanish, on the Cinco Días website. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to visit Carrefour's Spanish site.
02.11.04
Barcelona football club's proud status as standard bearer for the Catalan nation, coupled with its financial strength, has meant that it has been able - unlike most other top teams - to resist the trend for selling advertising space on players' shirts. The subject has become a regular feature of annual general meetings and, until now, the vote has always gone against. Now that could be set to change, says the news agency AFP, with an offer arriving at the club that could be worth between € 13 million and €17 million per year. And the 'suitor' who would want to lay out so much money to associate itself with one of the world's most high-profile football teams. Rather disappointingly, it is the online betting company betandwin. Based in Vienna, Austria, betandwin is said to be in negotiation with 'Barça' over the length of the contract, expected to be between 3 and 5 years, AFP says. Click on the link below (left) to read this story for yourself, in Spanish, on Yahoo's Spanish-language news service. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to visit the home of FC Barcelona on the web.
27.10.04
Gossip, matters of the heart, voyeurism, reality shows.. 'rubbish TV' has really taken hold in Spain, writes the newspaper Libération, with latest surveys showing that this kind of programming occupies most peak-time screens. Now, however, the country's socialist government has moved to combat the 'scourge', actively led by prime minister José Luis Zapatero, who is well aware of the effect such programmes could have on children such as his two daughters. With his backing, Carmen Caffarel, head of the state-owned broadcasting company RTVE, has now proposed a list of 30 measures designed to be implemented in January. This code of good conduct, Libération says, will be applied between 6am and 10pm and is desigend to ensure that children and young people are protected "mentally and morally". Advertising, too, will be covered by the code during this 14-hour period. Violence, for example, will not be allowed unless it can be "justified editorially", while explicit sex will only be permitted if the aim of showing the images is an educational one. Exorcism and the 'dark sciences', "racial, religious, sexual and ideological insults" are also contained within the code and each programme designed for over 18 year-olds will have to be flagged as such by a logo shown on the screen throughout the programme. As yet, the plan does not appear to have caused major debate, with only the private TV channels so far having reacted. One of these, Telecinco, has called the code a "frontal attack on freedom of expression" and "censorship of which Franco would have been proud". Of course it should be noted, Libération says, that ihs station, owned by the Italian company Vocento, carries a fair degree of the so-called "rubbish TV" being targeted by the code. Click on the link below (left) to read a fuller version of this story for yourself, in French, on the Libération website. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to visit the RTVE site or here to visit the website dedicated to one of Telecinco's most viewed programmes, 'Aqui hay tomate', which specialises in gossip and looking into people's private lives.
26.10.04
The film 'Super Size Me', in which a man feeds himself for an entire month on nothing but McDonald's hamburgers, launched in Spain on October 15th, writes the local industry newsletter Marketing Directo, but many potential filmgoers may have remained oblivious to the fact, due to an advertising blackout imposed by the country's TV stations. Notro Films, which has distribution rights in Spain, is accusing the TV companies of 'censorship' after a decision by the country's self-regulatory comunications authorities instructing them not to air a campaign originally planned to run between October 10th and 14th. The ads, the authorities decided, did not constitute fair competition and denigrated the company, people and products associated with the McDonald's brand. Although it could also be suspected that McDonald's - one of Spain's leading advertisers - might have exerted pressure in the matter, the company says it had no contact with TV stations over the campaign. To coincide with the film's launch, McDonald's has been running a print campaign focusing on its extended product range, including healthier options. Click on the link below (left) to read a fuller version of this story for yourself, in Spanish, on the Marketing Directo website. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to visit the McDonald's Spain website (and where the current special offer, on the 'Big Tasty', certainly has a 'super-size' feel about it. Or click here. to visit the website dedicated to Super Size Me, which is, as the site claims, 'a film of epic portions'.
22.10.04
A contentious week in Spanish advertising continued on Friday (click here to see an earlier story about Renault angering Madrid metro workers) with the consumers' association, Facua, disputing fashion firm Hugo Boss's decision to use fashion models as ball girls at the Masters Series tennis event it has been sponsoring in Madrid. Like many other tournaments around the world, the event usually calls on the services of young boys and girls from local tennis schools to pick up balls and deliver them back to the players. Taking advantage of its sponsorhip rights, however, Hugo Boss enlisted a team of attractive young women to run around the courts. This, says Facua, contravenes the general law on advertising in Spain which, in article 3a, prohibits "advertising which harms the dignity of a person or which renders vulnerable the values and rights recognised by the Constitution, in particular in relation to women and young people". Hugo Boss, in using models instead of young amateurs, is accused of being sexist which Facua says, contravenes that article. Manuel Santana, Spanish tennis legend and organiser of the event, has said that Boss can continue to use the models. Click on the link below (left) to read this story for yourself, in Spanish, on the Marketing Directo website, the marketing industry newsletter which originally printed it. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to visit the dedicated page on the website of Spain's leading sports newspaper, Marca, which covers tennis and where this issue is definitely overshadowing the matches themselves - not least as a result of the photo opportunities it has generated. Or if you'd like to see the story covered, in English, by the BBC, just click here.
20.10.04
Workers on Madrid's metropolitan train system have been so angered by a poster ad for Renault that they have asked their union, CCOO, to lobby for its removal, writes the Spanish marketing industry newsletter Marketing Directo. CCOO has approached Renault about the ad, Marketing Directo says, asking for it to be taken down because it portrays a humiliating image of the Metro workers themselves. In the poster, a Metro worker is shown abandoning one of the passenger's dogs on the platform. The intention, Renault says, is to show how much space and comfort its cars offer in comparison to the urban transport system's trains, but in doing so, the CCOO complains, it paints a pretty negative image of the driver. In addition, it argues, the ad could easily undermine public confidence and lead to greater feelings of insecurity. Click on the link below (left) to read a fuller version of this story for yourself, in Spanish, on the Marketing Directo website, the local marketing industry newsletter. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to visit the Madrid Metro website.
08.10.04
The long-running battle as to what can and can not be sold as yogurt in Spain entered a new phase this week as teh country's advertising self-regulatory authorities ruled in favour of dairy company Leche Pascual and against a complaint by Danone. Danone and other makers of yogurt containing 'live' cultures - grouped in the trade association AEFY - have long complained that products sold by Leche Pascual should not be allowed to be promoted as 'yogurt', as they are pasteurised and therefore possess inferior qualities. So far, judgments have tended to go Pascual's way, as was the case this week. Autocontrol de Publicidad, the regulators ajudged that advertising produced for Leche Pascual which compared its own 'long-life yogurt' favourably to 'short-life yogurts' and pointed out the 'problems', 'limitations' and 'restrictions' linked with the latter - as a result of the fact that it has to be kept chilled and does not last as long - should be allowed to continue to run. Click on the link below (left) to visit the website of the magazine that published this story, the Spanish marketing journal Ipmark. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to the Leche Pascual website and find out what all the fuss is about or here to visit a website set up by the company especially to deal with questions of health.
06.10.04
Real Madrid's poor start to the Spanish soccer season may have had more than one person doubting the true value of the club's team of 'galacticos', but whatever their value in the transfer marketplace, their accounting value - as assets - is zero, writes the Spanish business newspaper Cinco Días. Management at the club has, against accounting rules and the advice of its auditor, completely written off the value (amount paid for) David Beckham in its latest set of accounts, Cinco Días says. The same practice has previously been applied to the 'value' of other star signings such as Ronaldo and Luis FIgo. Accounting norms, says Cinco Días, establish that such values should be 'amortised' gradually, depending on the length of the contract signed and the 'expected useful life' of any asset. Florentino Pérez, however, president of the club, prefers to write off the values in order for the accounts to give a faithful reflection of how his company is operating on a day-to-day basis. Pérez is right in some respects, Cinco Días says. Writing off the cost of players and others, such as exploitation rights and concessions, helps to make the club appear financially stronger as no deductions will be necessary in coming years. In addition, if an asset officially has no value, you can appear to make an enormous profit on any sale. Finally, booking the write-off against profits reduces these, and therefore the tax bill. The authorities, naturally, disagree with this stance and are currently pursuing Real Madrid for a total of €61.4 million for underpaid taxes in previous years, part of which it has already agreed to pay up. Real Madrid, Cinco Días says, is expecting to achieve income of €300 million during 2005, 27% more than the previous year's. The increase, it believes, will come from exploiting its brand, which alone is expected to contribute €137 million, up from €35 million in 2001. In all, marketing provides 46% of all turnover. Click on the link below (left) to read a fuller version of this story for yourself, in Spanish, on the Cinco Días website. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to visit Real Madrid and survey their array of 'worthless' stars or here to see an earlier article on this page about marketing and Real Madrid.
06.10.04
Spanish media agency Carat has published what it calls the 'Libro de Tendencias 2004/05', a research and reflection piece designed to throw light on expected changes in Spanish society over the coming year. Being a multinational network, Carat has worked together with its partner agencies in France, German, Italy and the UK in putting together its report, but some of its findings are specific to Spain. In conducting its research, Carat spoke to experts in media, advertising and sociology, in addition to conducting representative research among over 14 year-olds in the respective countries. The future, it concludes, is viewed with a degree of uncertainty, with events such as the March 11th bombing in Madrid (known in Spain simply as '11 M') merely serving to accentuate the feeling. The future, the agency says, has ceased to be a syonym of progress and improvement. In place of this, the future is more likely to be associated with the notion of catastrophe, with illusions rapidly confronted by reality. Instead of feeling master of the situation, today's Spaniard feels more like a passive subject of it. Fully 85% of the people spoken to by Carat agreed with the statement that "we live in an asphyxiating, suffocating society". This new societal backdrop and the mood it creates, Carat says, can be characterised by the phrase 'retro present', a kind of culture combining masochism and nostalgia. The present appears disconnected from a future which, from now on, is going to be perceived as a problem, rather than a source of progress. 57% of Spaniards, Carat says agree with the statement that they are just 'living from day to day'. Click on the link below (left) to read a much fuller write-up of Carat's study for yourself, in Spanish, on the website of Marketing Directo, the local marketing industry newsletter. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to visit Carat's Spanish website.
05.10.04
In a week in which it was revealed that wine sales in Spain continue to fall, albeit at a slower rate than before, 10 wine makers have linked to launch a promotional campaign aimed at targeting younger drinkers. The problem faced by Spanish wine houses is that the profile of the typical consumer is growing older, while the drink is less attractive to up-and-coming drinkers than alternatives. The campaign mounted by the 10 companies - which include Bodegas Riojanas, Faustino and Bodegas Valcarlos - will consist of a promotional tour back by a budget of around €450,000. Under the title 'Vino, tapas y risas' ('Wine, tapas [bar snacks] and smiles'), the tour aims to have a direct impact on some 35,000 potential consumers, who wil be offered invitations to parties, have their questions answered about wine or participate in promotions and competitions and win various prizes by visiting a website dedicated to the promotion. According to a study by Vinomio, the promotional agency behind the initiative, wine is simply not drunk as much by the target group, who associate its consumption with older people. While each Spaniard drank, on average, 28.2 litres of wine during 2003, a majority of this was destined for older palates. Click on the link below (left) to read a more complete version of this story for yourself, in Spanish, on the website where we found it, the Cinco Días business newspaper. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to go directly to the 'Vinos, tapas y risas' website which, let's face it, you probably would not have otherwise.
05.10.04
Spain's television channels transmitted 1,047 hours-worth of advertising during September, says the newspaper El Mundo - an increase of 20 hours over the same period the previous year. The figures, compiled by media agency Media Planning, show that despite calls for the contrary, saturation on Spanish TV screens continues to grow. Advertising airtime rose across all segments of the viewing day, Media Planning says. During early evening viewing, average hours transmitted rose from 63 to 65. The increase for evening viewing was from 72 to 74 hours. Of he channels, Antena 3 devoted 17.7% of its airtime to paid communications, a slight increase, while Telecinco's percentage fell slightly to 16.5%. 14.5% of airtime at TVE-1, the main national channel, consisted of advertising. Click on the link below (left) to read a more complete version of this story for yourself, in Spanish, on the El Mundo website. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to go to the TVE site.
05.10.04
Ahold, the Dutch-based retail group that invested heavily in expanding its business into Spain, is to close 40 outlets and sell the rest to the investment group, Permira, says the business newspaper Cinco Días. Permira will pay 685 million euros - the largest bid received and take over all of Ahold's Spanish interests, including those in the Canary Islands. Ahold is recommending to the buyers that they continue with the plan currently in place to clean up the supermarket's financial position, which involves the closure of 65 stores over a 4-year period, 10% of the total. Ahold currently operates 586 stores in Spain. Click on the link below (left) to read a more complete version of this story for yourself, in Spanish, on the Cinco Días website. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to see Ahold's own announcement on its global website, in English.
17.09.04
Carrefour, the hypermarket operator, is offering shoppers the opportunity to create their own music CD in store, writes the newspaper Cinco Días, in what is a unique initiative within the sector in Spain. Initially, visitors to its Fuenlabrada outlet, in Madrid, will be able to select from a database of songs the titles that they prefer, before having a personalised CD prepared from them by the shop's staff. The serivce will be extended to two further stores, also in Madrid, before the end of the year. In all, Carrefour operates 125 hypermarkets throughout Spain and has not ruled out further expanding its offer, Cinco Días says. Six terminals will be placed in the stores' existing music section, offering titles from leading publishers such as BMG, EMI and Sony. Song prices will vary betweem €1.00 and €1.50. In addition to CDs, clients will also be able to take their selecction away in MP3 form. In introducing its service, Carrefour is cooperating with YourMusic, an existing personalised music supplier which maintains an extensive centralised database. Songs selected will be transmitted from YourMusic to the store by satellite. Click on the link below (left) to read a more complete version of this story for yourself, in Spanish, in the pages of Cinco Días. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to go to Carrefour's Spanish website or here to visit YourMusic.
17.09.04
Spaniards have long been aware that their airwaves carry more ads than the average country, but now, with figures from the media agency Initiative Media, they're in a position to know exactly how many. Initiative's survey was carried out between 2001 and 2003 in 45 different countries, among them Spain, says the local marketing magazine Marketing Directo. Spain, it says, ranks sixth, with the typical adult being exposed to 634 TV advertisements per week. That sounds a lot and indeed it is, although it is far from enough to make Spain the most advertised-to people on the planet. That honour, according to Initiative, belongs to the Indonesians, with an average 852 ads per week. Second place in the
classification, Marketing Directo says, is taken by the United States, followed by Mexico,
China and New Zealand. And while southern Europe may be exposed to ad overload, that is
far from being the case in more northern countries such as Denmark (where the figure is
185 ads per adult per week), Norway (173), Austria (150) and Sweden (145).
15.09.04
Spain's ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce is investing €16 million to get Spaniards to join up to the information society, writes the local advertising magazine Ipmark. €6 million of the total will be directed towards an advertising campaign to be handled by the agency Grey & Trace, Ipmark says, with the remaining €10 million channeled into promotion and awareness activities which will be handled by McCann-Erickson, in conjunction with Alegria Activity, an events agency. Promoted by the government agency red.es, Ipmark says, the campaign will take place over the next 16 months and is aimed particularly at young people, students, housewives, older people, immigrants, the disabled and other groups who do not currently use the internet. 25 mobile classrooms will hit the road, visiting 3,250 locations across Spain to reach an intended 'live' audience of a million and a half. The campaign centres on the fictional Alcántara family from the popular series 'Cuéntame cómo pasó' ('Tell me what happened'). The choice of the Alcántaras was based on their popularity and the degree to which the target audience identifies with the family, says Ipmark. The campaign will take in TV, radio and press work, in two waves. Click on the link below (left) to visit the website of the magazine that published this story, Ipmark. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to go to the website of Grey Iberia, Grey's Spanish holding company of which Grey & Trace is a part. If you like, you can also click here to see this story written up on the website of rival Spanish publication, Anuncios, or here to go directly to a web page allowing you to download and view the 3 spots from the campaign.
13.09.04
The city council, or 'Ayuntamiento', of the capital of Spain, Madrid, has issued a tender inviting agencies to apply for the task of creating a brand to promote the city both within the nation's borders and beyond them, writes the Spanish marketing magazine Marketing Directo. A slogan and logo, the magazine says, may help the city in its efforts to secure the 2012 Olympic Games, for which Paris and London are currently considered favourites. The objective behind promoting Madrid, however, has wider aims too, in particular to encourage tourism and inward investment. Nevertheless, should Madrid's Olympic bid prove successful, the brand will receive worldwide exposure. Many agencies are said to have applied to submit ideas, among them Cato Berro, Interbrand, Landor and Saatchi & Saatchi, which has already worked with the cities of Sydney and Athens in a similar capacity. Other cities to actively consider promoting themselves more strongly in recent weeks include Amsterdam... click here to be taken to a story about that development here, in English, on th epages of From Europe With Love. Click on the link below (left) to read this story for yourself, in Spanish, in the pages of Marketing Directo. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to go to the website of the 'Ayuntamiento'.
13.09.04
For much of Spanish youth, the lack of clear references to sex or social class in advertising directed at them acts as a source of frustration, given that in reality they do not have access to the products or services shown and they consequently see their ability to integrate into society as being threatened. These conclusions are among the findings of the study 'Jovenes y Publicidad' (Young People and Advertising), conducted jointly by the anti drug addiction charity FAD, the national institute of youth, Injuve, and the social interest section of the bank, Caja Madrid, and reported in the local advertising magazine, Ipmark. The study's authors write that the over-representation of what is young (being young, feeling young.. even in advertising directed at older people) leads to people gaining a simplified perception of what it is actually like to be so. In addition, ads tend to give the impression that the products are for all young people, irrespective of their social class. Advertising, they continue, portrays a stereotypical image of young people which is in no way representative of the day-to-day reality of large numbers of them. Many of those interviewed, Ipmark says, said they felt closer to those campaigns which showed the complexity of their world, conflicts of identity, the problems of growing up and going about building your own life. Faced with the values typically dominating advertising today (such as hedonism, pragmatism and competitiveness), many feel that others - such as altruism and social solidarity - which are socially desirable are effectively pushed out of the picture. The study confirms that young Spaniards have a great understanding of advertising strategies and are often critical of them. Despite this, however, when asked to detail their aspirations they end up reflecting the very stereotypes they see portrayed and adopting the attitudes they see displayed. In compiling their study, its authors analysed a selectoin of advertising aimed at Spanish youth across a one-year period, deriving certain measures using quantitative methods. In addition, 60 interviews were conducted with experts in advertising and a number of groups of young people aged between 15 and 25 years old. Click on the link below (left) to visit the website of the magazine that printed this story, Ipmark. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to visit the website of Injuve or here to go directly to the page on the site wher you can read more about the study and also download individual chapters in PDF form.
10.09.04
Spain's gay population are heavier consumers of media than the male population as a whole, according to a new study published by the media planning and buying agency, Carat. Internet, cinema, radio and weekly newspaper supplements are the media forms most valued by Spanish gays, Carat says, with daily newspapers and television viewed at a similar rate to 'straight' males. Carat's study is based, says the local advertising magazine Ipmark, on data taken from the EGM study of media used by Spaniards aged between 18 and 65. The data suggest that gay readers, in addition to those forms listed above, particularly appreciate monthly magazines Internet use during the past month, Carat says, runs as high as 85% among gay men compared to just 44% among their heterosexual counterparts, while gay people visit a cinema, on average, 27 times per year, against just 10 among the general male population. Click on the link below (left) to visit the website of the Spanish magazine that published this story, Ipmark. Alternatively, click on the link below (right) to visit Carat's global website, or here to see the contact details for its Spanish office, if you'd like to know more about this story.
03.09.04
A total of 800,000 litres of Mecca Cola, which positions itself as a value-driven alternative to American soft drinks, were sold in Spain in the 12 months to June, says the newspaper El Mundo. And, although aimed principally at Muslims, they are not at all the only people to enjoy the drink. Created by a Frenchman of Tunisian origins, El Mundo says, Mecca Cola arrived in Spain in February 2003 and is currently available in 23 cities. One of its main attractions is the company's pledge to donate 20% of profits to humanitary causes in Palestine, such as the funding of schools and surgeons. Far beyond its intended buyer base, the drink can be bought in a wide variety of bars, restaurants and discotheques, even though the product's label expressly states that it is not designed for mixing with alcohol. Nevertheless, Margerit Dis, its only Spanish distributor, has made a conscious effort to gain exposure wider than just in muslim "ghettoes", the paper says, with the result that it is drunk to the tune of "75% by Spaniards and only 25% by immigrants from muslim countries". Mecca Cola is available in Spain in 33cl tins and 1.5-litre and 2-litre bottles, with smaller formats planned towards the end of the year including a 20cl bottle and 25cl can. Click on the link below (left) to read more of this story for yourself, in Spanish, on the website of El Mundo Dinero. Click on the link below (right) to visit Mecca Cola's official global website, or here to see it featured in an article on the BBC website, in February 2003, and in English.
03.09.04
Recent studies in relation to Spanish advertising, says the business newspaper Cinco Días, have not exactly been positive. And especially as regards television. One ad agency executive spoken to by the paper admits that: "Never before have there been so many ads, and never before have they been so ineffective." The reason, Cinco Días says, is the rising level of saturation, which is leading advertisers to doubt whether the investment they are making in promoting themselves and their products really is justified. In addition to the problem of effectiveness, ad breaks are currently so full that many agencies are having difficulty buying up the time they would like to place their campaigns. Not that the quality of the promotions is in doubt, it seems, with viewers (apparently) increasingly less likely to 'zap' their way out of advertisements, choosing instead to view them as entertainment. Creativity, it is well known, is the best way to gain advantage amid fierce competition. However one has to remember, at the same time, that a message has to be communicated and objectives achieved. Who, Cinco Días asks, does not remember the ad for Airtel featuring the line: "Hi, it's Edu, Happy Christmas" (well, of course, anybody reading this story who is not in Spain, probably), or the Andalucian child telling his father: "Daddy, I want a guitar. I want to play in a band", for Molina hams (ditto). But while both ads stuck firmly in the consciousness of viewers, both also produced extremely poor results, with studies showing that neither was strongly associated with the brand it was designed to promote and that both were frequently linked with the competition. "There is a serious problem of saturation, pushing up the level of competition between ads and making people try even harder to get their message heard. It's fashionable right now to produce ads that make an impact", says Juan Ramón Plana, head of the Spanish advertisers' association AEA. Plana believes that, despite it all, the level of creativity remains high, while stressing that creativity in itself is worthless if it does not support sales of the product. Salvador Fernández, director of J. Walter Thompson agrees. "Each campaign has to be original if it is to stand out", he tells Cinco Días, "but the ultimate objective is to increase the advertiser's sales, not to satisfy the agency's creative ego." Clients are increasingly less willing to take chances with their investment, it appears. "It is more and more common for advertisers to set their objectives prior to the campaign, conduct market analyses and studies before and after it runs", says Plana. Many, Cinco Días says, cover their backs by including clauses in contracts designed to ensure that certain minimum objectives are met. Leche Pascual, for example, the dairy brand, seeks to create instant brand identification and even stipulates the number of seconds a TV advertisement can be on air before its logo appears. ING Directo, the direct bank, on the other hand, includes a different telephone number in each advertisement it broadcasts, allowing it to quantify the response it receives and therefore evaluate which treatments have been most effective." Click on the link below (left) to read more o | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
