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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 of this story for yourself, in Spanish, on the website of Cinco Días. Click on the link below (right) to visit the Spanish website of J. Walter Thompson, the agency mentioned in this article.
23.08.04
The most-frequently placed ads on Spanish TV and in newspapers and magazines last month reflected shoppers summer priorities, writes the online marketing magazine Marketing Directo. According to a ranking compiled by the monitoring company Infoadex, the most prolific advertiser during the period was the deodorant brand Axe, which placed a total of 2,095 ads, followed by the travel company Viajes Halcón, with 2,075. In addition to personal care and travel, Marketing Directo notes, slimming products were the object of heightened advertising activity during July. Nevertheless, the 3rd-ranked advertiser during the period was El Pozo, the cold meats brand, followed by Bosch (household appliances), Amukina (fruit disinfectant) and Dove (conditioner). The top-ranking diet and slimming product advertiser was 7th-placed Bio Century, which placed 1,253 ads. Click on the link below (left) to read more of this story for yourself, in Spanish, on the website of Marketing Directo. Click on the link below (right) to visit the site of Infoadex, to find out what else they're up to in a month where the Spanish advertising and marketing community, generally, is on the beach and this counts as 'news'.
23.08.04
Dove, the Unilever-owned personal care brand that has recently become known for its use of 'real' models - i.e. women taken from the general population with which the typical shopper can identify - in advertising to support its skincare products, and especially those designed to 'firm' the skin, is scouring Spanish beaches during the month of August to discover models for its next campaign, wrotes the local advertising and marketing newsletter Marketing Directo. Dove's concept is based on
natural, complex-free beauty (the press release says. With that in mind, representatives
of the brand will be inviting women to photograph themselves while on the beach
spontaneously, just 'being themselves'. Up to 16 different deaside resorts will be visited
in Andalucia, Murcia, around Valencia and further north in Catalunya. It is a similar
initiative to the website set up by Dove, to which women can send their photos in order to
take part in the selection process.
Spaniards made 8% more visits to fast food establishments in the year between April 2003 and March 2004, writes the industry newsletter Marketing Directo, citing statistics from TNS FastfoodPANEL, the consumer panel market research operation. This 8% rise in visits (somehow) translates into an increase of 19% in actual clients, TNS says, and a 13% increase in the value of sales over the same period the previous year. TNS divides 'fast food' into
four categories: pizzas, sandwiches, hamburgers and 'other'. Hamburgers currently account
for 61% of all spending on out-of-home fast food, it says, followed by sandwiches (23%)
and pizzas (11%). Based on its panel data, TNS says the typical consumer of fast food is an upper or middle class person aged between 35 and 49 years old, living in Madrid. Nevertheless, it says, consumers aged between 18 and 24 years old form another important target group, having grown significantly during the period in question, compared to 25 to 34 year olds. Men, TNS says, are more likely consumers of fast food than women. Click on the link below (left) to read more of this story for yourself, in Spanish, on the website of Marketing Directo. Click on the link below (right) to visit the website of TNSofres and find out what other useful things the company's researchers have been up to recently.
09.08.04
McCann Erickson was the ad agency handling the largest amount of billings in Spain during the first 6 months of 2004, according to the online Spanish marketing industry newsletter Marketing Directo. The agency added €31 million in billings over the period, Marketing Directo says, thanks to the arrival of nine new clients. Basing its report on a survey conducted by the specialist consultancy Grupo Consultores, Marketing Directo says that Publicis ranked second, with €26.7 million, just ahead of Ruiz Nicoli Lineas, with €26 million. Publicis added three new accounts between January and June and Ruiz Nicoli eight, the newsletter says, although it also lost Ferrovial and Don Piso over the period. The ranking, it continues, reflects the solid performance of the leading Spanish agencies in the first half of the year. All the leading ten gained business, with only three reporting that they had lost clients. The remainder of the new business top 10 is taken up by Sra. Rushmore, DDB, Cayenne, Contrapunto, Creativos de Publicidad, Zapping, The Farm and Saatchi & Saatchi, in that order. This is the first ranking produced by Grupo Consultores based on billings, Marketing DIrecto says, having previously limited itself to accounts won and lost. The three agencies losing clients, the consultancy says, all count among the top 5 in the ranking. Click on the link below (left) to read more of this story, in Spanish, on the website of Marketing Directo. Click on the link below (right) to visit the website of Grupo Consultores, specialists in the ad agency market.
Over 600,000 Spanish households consist of three generations of a single family living under one roof, writes the newspaper abc. Citing statistics from the latest census conducted by the country's statistical service, INE, abc says that Galicia is the region where families are most likely to remain living together. The exact figure of 619,786 households where three generations are present corresponds to one in every 23, abc says. The figures relate to 2001, when, of the 14 million households counted, 6 million housed just one generation and a further 7.5 million housed two. Click on the link below (left) to read more of this story for yourself, in Spanish, on the website of abc. Click on the link below (right) to visit the website of McDonald's Spain (and, using this link, by-passing INE, Spain's national statistical service, or here to go directly to a page featuring this and far more information about 'Spain at the beginning of the 21st century ('España al comienzo del siglo XXI').
08.08.04
Publicitarios sin Fronteras, a Spanish advertising industry 'NGO' backed by some of the country's leading creative talents, is looking to bolster its resources by attracting yet more talented individuals to work on 'social' campaigns, writes the newspaper El Mundo. Social campaigns - that is, campaigns whose objective is to improve some aspect of society - often have low or no budgets and depend on the freely-given time and ideas of industry professionals. Publiciarios sin Fronteras is linked to like-minded individuals worldwide, including famous names (in the world of advertising, at least, such as Neil French and David Droga, via the Ad Honorem grouping. The association, El Mundo says, has launched an international campaign, to appear in both mass market and specialist titles. The work, which was conceived by Daniel Comar and Guillermo Caro, shows Superman taking off his suit alongside the line: "You don't have to ba a superhero to help" (in Spanish, "No necesitas ser un superhéroe para ayudar"). This is the first time, El Mundo says, that he organisation has undertaken this type of campaign. Those deciding to join in can decide for themselves whether they want to work on local, national or global campaigns, it says. Among Publicitarios sin Fronteras' Spanish members, perhaps the most prominent is Luis Bassat, founder of the agency of the same name which is now owned by the Ogilvy group. Click on the link below (left) to read more of this story, in Spanish, on the website of El Mundo. Click on the link below (right) to visit the English-language Ad Honorem website, where you can read more about their activities and see actual examples of social campaigns, whether produced by them or not. Want to visit the Spanish language version of the site? Just click here (but beware, the links can be very slow to open, whichever language you choose).
Sales of diesel cars continue to gain ground in Spain, reaching an impressive 64.1% of all models sold during the year so far, according to figures released by the country's association of car and truck makers, Anfac, reported in the online newspaper Diario Directo. According to Anfac, of the 957,300 new cars registered during the first 7 months of 2004, 613,912 had diesel engines, compared to 343,388 petrol-engined models. Diesel sales, Diario Directo says, have been increasing year on year, overtaking sales of petrol-engined cars for the first time in the year 2000. Last year, they accounted for 60.9% of all car sales. Biggest segmental increases during 2004 have been in sports cars (+116%) and in smaller people carriers (+59%). Click on the link below (left) to read more about this year's car sales, in Spanish, on the website of Diario Directo. Click on the link below (right) to visit the website of Anfac, where you can read the press release, again in Spanish, relating to this story in its original form. Click here to go to the page on Renault's Spanish where you can configure your own (diesel or otherwise) version of the company's popular Mégane model.
05.08.04
McDonald's España is introducing a version of its Happy Meal with a twist, writes the Spanish news agency Europa Press. Although traditionally reserved for children and consisting of a combination of burger or nuggets with a collectable toy, the new version of the Happy Meal offered to Spanish adults will come complete with a pedometer - a device measuring how far the person carrying it has walked. The objective, McDonald's says, is to encourage a healthy lifestyle at the same time as pulling new consumers into the company's outlets. It is the first Happy Meal aimed at adults to be introduced in Europe and forms part of McDonald's global 'Go Active! initiative, which has also involved the launch of a new salad product, Salad Plus, in 16 European countries, Europa Press says. Visitors to McDonald's buying any salad from the Salad Plus range and a bottle of Font Vella mineral water will be gifted a pedometer which they can place on their hip to keep track of the distance they cover during the day. In addition, the meal comes complete with a leaflet containing advice on how to practice sport, compiled under the supervision of María Vasco, a leading Spanish athletics (walking) star and medal winner at the last Olympic Games. McDonald's recently signed Vasco as the face of its advertising in Spain, Europa Press says. Click on the link below (left) to read more of this story, in Spanish, on the website of Yahoo, which picked it up from Europa Press. Click on the link below (right) to visit the website of McDonald's Spain (and, using this link, by-passing the site's home page, which has been hijacked by hackers at the time of writing).
27.07.04
Spending by Spanish government bodies accounted for 3.3% of the entire advertising market during the past year, according to figures released by Infoadex this week. 'Public administration'
expenditure totalled 12,015 million euros during 2003, Infoadex says, a rise of 1.2% over
the previous year. Growth over the 4-year period up to and including 2003 amounted to
15.1%, Infoadex says, although when one takes inflation out of the equation, the figure
falls to just 1.2%. Commenting on the relationship between advertising and media agencies and government bodies, Carlos Holemans, creative director of El Laboratorio, and Luis Chaves, head of Carat Expert, called for a more open dialogue. Government is subject to much greater legal restriction than the private sector, they said, and, in addition, ad agencies did not enjoy the same opportunities for 'contra-briefing' as they did with private-sector clients, which serves to limit the production of truly memorable advertising. We read this story in the Spanish advertising journal, IPMark. Click on the link below (left) to read more IPMark stories, in Spanish, on the magazine's own website. Click on the link below (right) to go to the Infoadex website, or click here to go to the section of the Spanish road transport authority (DGT) website which features recent promotional campaigns aired on the country's TV stations.
Different analyses of housing markets will often produce different rates of house price growth but one thing is for sure. Prices in Spain are currently rocketing upwards. According to a report in the online newspaper Diario Directo, the price of new housing is currently an average 1,726.7 euros per month - a 16% increase over the first 6 months of 2003. The figures were provided to Diario Directo by Tasaciones Inmobiliarias (Tinsa), a specialist in property valuation. The price of new apartments in leading cities ('provincial capitals') rose by just over 17% during the period January to June, Tinsa says, with prices in the remainder of the country rising by 15.4%. Also according to Tinsa, the price of 'second-hand' housing rose by 19% over the same period. Click on the link below (left) to read more of this story, in Spanish, on the newspaper's own website or here to read an alternative version on the website of El Comercio Digital. Click on the link below (right) to go to the Tinsa website, where you can read more about the Association's activities, choose between Spanish and English.
Advertising expenditure in Spain rose by 10.5% over the first 6 months of 2004, says the Spanish advertising and marketing newsletter IPMark, basing its article on figures reported by the local media monitoring company, Infoadex. Spending over the period January-to-June amounted to 3,095.2 million euros, Infoadex says, compared to 2,801.7 million for the same period in 2003. Television, including all national and regional channels audited by Infoadex, saw a 16.6% rise in advertising investment to 1,347.2 million euros, IPMark says. The figure recorded for the same 6 months during 2003 was 1,155.3 million euros. Newspapers, which attract the second-largest volume of advertising investment, reached 802.2 million euros, an increase of 5.3%, while magazines rose 6.4% to 312.7 million euros. Outdoor, at fifth, attracted 238.2 million euros, 8.6% up on 2003. 40.3 million euros was invested in internet advertising over the period, a 14.9% rise over the previous year. Cinema was one of the few categories to register a fall, with only 7.6 million euros being spent over the first 6 months of 2004, a fall of 18.2%. Click on the link below (left) to see what else IPMark is reporting about developments in the world of Spanish advertising, in Spanish. Click on the link below (right) to visit the website of Infoadex, where you can read more, in Spanish, about the company and its activities, or here to download a summary of the latest Infoadex report, in Spanish, containing all these figures and more, in PDF form.
21.07.04
Spain's Association for Research into Media Communications (AIMC) has published the 3rd edition of its study into the media habits of the country's younger inhabitants, writes the Spanish advertising newsletter IPMark. As in previous editions, IPMark
says, the study gives information on how and how much these younger Spaniards use
conventional media, such as television and newspapers, and so-called 'non-conventional'
media, such as mobile phones and the internet. Additional areas covered this year include
how much time young Spanish people devote to basic activities, such as education and
leisure, IPMark says. We read this story in the Spanish advertising journal, IPMark. Click on the link below (left) to read more IPMark stories, in Spanish, on the magazine's own website. Click on the link below (right) to go to the AIMC website, where you can read more about the Association's activities, or click here to go directly to the section featuring this year's edition of the 'Audiencia Infantil/Juvenil de Medios' study.
Grupo Recoletos, one of Spain's leading publishing groups, has announed that it is to launch a free newspaper available in 15 Spanish cities, with a print run of 1 million copies, says the Spanish advertising industry newsletter IPMark. The cities chosen to receive the new paper are Madrid, Barcelona, Alicante, Sevilla, Zaragoza, Mallorca, Bilbao, San Sebastián, Málaga, Valladolid, Pamplona, A Coruña, Murcia, Valencia and Oviedo, IPMark says. When the project goes ahead, it will put Recoletos ahead of its two direct competitors, 20 Minutos and Metro, both in terms of distribution area and the number of copies printed. Between them, those two newspapers are currently present in 7 Spanish cities, says IPMark. Industry sources, the magazine adds, have not ruled out the possibility that Recoletos might buy Metro, which is owned by the Swedish group of the same name but is not achieving the results its owner had hoped for. Another company rumoured to be eying the free newspaper market is Recoletos' competitor Grupo Prisa. Click on the link below (left) to visit the website of IPMark, which published this article, and read what else is happening in the world of Spanish advertising and marketing, in Spanish. Click on the link below (right) to visit the Recoletos website or here to visit the site of 20 Minutos, the other existing free newspaper.
The owners of Hola!, the extremely successful Spanish 'people' magazine which has been exported, notably to the UK as 'Hello', with similar success, have announced that they are to launch a new title in September called Chic. The new magazine will be aimed, says the advertising industry newsletter IPMark, at women aged between 25 and 45 years old drawn from the middle and upper classes. Appearing monthly, it will feature a range of subjects including fashion, health & beauty, travel, interior decoration, cooking, celebrities and prominent parties, with an informational thread running through the entire magazine. It is, its owners say, being positoined as an aspirational title. Distribution during the first week will be in conjunction with copies of Hola!, assuring it a maximum first-edition audience of 2,538,000 readers, with an average total sale per issue of 542,769. Click on the link below (left) to visit the website of IPMark, which published this article, and read what else is happening in the world of Spanish advertising and marketing, in Spanish. Click on the link below (right) to visit the Hola website, where you can read - again in Spanish - all about the lives of the rich and famous (if you want) or here to visit the site of Hello, its English-language equivalent, which has even more 'celebrities'.
According to a study conducted jointly by the internet operator Yahoo and the Spanish association for advertising creative people, the Club de Creativos (CdC), Spaniards are aware that their society contains many taboos, but also believes that these should not be carried over into advertising. Called 'Miedos, rubores y temores de la sociedad española' ('Fears and blushes in Soanish society'), is the second produced by Yahoo Sociometro, an initiative launched by Yahoo to gauge the opinions of Spanish society over the internet. This latest study has a separate
section dedicated to an analysis of the current mood of Spaniards as regards advertising,
IPMark says. One-third of those 'spoken to' say that there are certain topics that the
advertising world should not employ or portray in its campaigns. The most-frequently named
include violence, religion and sex, cited by 9% of respondents. 18%, however, said that
nothing should be considered out of bounds. Click on the link below (left) to visit the website of IPMark, the publication that carried this article. Click on the link below (right) to visit the website of the Club de Creativos. Click here to go to the part of Yahoo's Spanish website featuring its 'Sociometro' study and where you can read more of the results of the study, or from where you can download a fuller summary.
Women drivers are more safety-minded when driving and have a better perception of risk, according to a new study published by the Spanish drivers association, RACC, some results of which have been published in the online newspaper, Estrella Digital. RACC spoke over the telephone to 4,200 people in Spanish towns and cities, Estrella Digital says. In addition to safety, the survey covered driving-related aspects such as alcohol. 62% of the Spanish population, it appears, agrees that there should be no alcohol present in the blood of drivers. This attitude, like many recorded by the researchers (and which could represent both an opinion and a character trait when it comes to answering questions posed to them?), is more prevalent among women than men, Estrella Digital says. Ever more women are obtaining a driving licence, the survey
found. In 1998, 65% of men held a licence, compared to 34% of women. In 2002, the figures
were 63% and 37% respectively. In the same year, the paper adds, 5,347 people died on
Spanish roads, 4,061 of whom were men. 82% of these, nevertheless, maintain that they
respect speed limits, marginally less than women (82%). Presented with the findings, the RACC says that: "we have to do away with the macho attitude, that women are worse drivers. We also have to convince women not to copy the way men drive." Click on the link below (left) to read this article, in Spanish, as it originally appeared on Estrella Digital's website. Click on the link below (right) to visit the website of RACC, where, if you speak Spanish, you can navigate your way around the world of driving and tourism in Spain.
The cult of 'light' food and drink fills Spanish shopping baskets with all kinds of low calorie products, says the Spanish broadcaster Antena 3. They are such a regular feature that nobody, now, can probably remember when they bought theuir first such product. Today is the 20th anniversary of the first TV ad for a 'light' drink, Antena 3 says, and since then, much has changed. Then, Spanish viewers were presented with the sight of Julio Iglesias, surrounded by beautiful women, enjoying a soft drink that was low in calories. At that time, Iglesias was the perfect spokesperson to sell this totally new product kind of product to Spain's female population. But as time has passed, so have expectations. By the 1990s,
the typical advertising character would be a muscled young man shown without a T-shirt,
sweating and, of course, extremely attractive. The male sex object had been born, to
please women. To see the Antena 3 news clip that accompanies this article, click here to go to the TV company's website and then click on either ADSL (for broadband access) or modem to view the 1m 15s segment. To visit the home page of Antena 3's website, click on the link below (left). Coca Cola Light's most recent Spanish TV campaign employs both nostalgia and humour by recalling the 1970s film hit, Saturday Night Fever. Produced by the ad agency Publicis and entitled "Light Fever", it was shot in the Spectrum night club in Brooklyn, NY, and is an attempt to infuse the brand with fun and spontaneity. The ad - which features a soundtrack entitled "Give me a light", by FunkNacion All Star and which borrows from the original Bee Gees composition, will air between now and July on major Spanish commercial channels. Click on the link below (right) to visit the section of Coca Cola's Spanish website where the ad is currently featured.
15.05.04
Advertisers are increasingly turning away from the promotional opportunity presented by Spain's traditional national sport, bullfighting, in favours of more high-profile sports, such as football, says the business newspaper Diário Económico (DE). Not long ago, DE says, practically every maker of cooked meats, alcoholic drinks or tobacco would know that, to maintain their standing in the marketplace, they had to maintain a presence at leading "ferias", such as that of San Isidro, which runs this year between April 25th and June 5th. This, however, is no longer the case. "For some brands, bullfighting as an event is extremely well suited to advertising, but advertisers also risk losing potential clients who do not approve of the activity. That's why advertisers are disassociating themselves from bullfighting. To reach those potential clients, they now prefer other, less risky options", explains Rafael Llopis, marketing director of the media agency, Mindshare. To read this story for yourself in the pages of Diário Económico (which is, in fact, a Portuguese newspaper), click on the link below (left). Click on the link below (right) to visit the bullfighting section of the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, which is currently focussing on the "Feria de San Isidro".
10.05.04
The Spanish federation of housewives organisations, consumers and users (CEACCU) has published the results of a study of the labels of over 100 so-called "functional" foods, writes the website ConsumaSeguridad. Among the products included in the study are breads, milk, soft drinks, eggs and vegetable oil, labelling of which, CEACCU concludes, is, in many cases, "confusing, defective and incomplete. The study, entitled “El etiquetado de los alimentos funcionales. Un análisis de mercado” ("Labelling of functional foods, a market analysis), looks at aspects of labelling such as what functional ingredients are included, how that ingredient relates to the brand, whether or not the nutritional effect is explained, whether recommendations are present as to how to achieve a healthy lifestyle and what advertising slogans and other promotional materials are present. According to the organisation, there is increasing use of phrases such as “Una sabrosa manera de cuidar tu colesterol” ("a tasty way to look after your cholesterol"), "cuida tus huesos" ("looks after your bones"), "para cuidar tu cuerpo" ("for looking after your body") and "restan grasa, suman salud" ("lose fat, gain health"). The problem arises when the consumption of such modified foods ("functional" foods contain ingredients such as fibre, bifidus, calcium and vitamins) is linked to disease prevention, in spite of the fact that current legislation explicitly forbids the attribution of preventive, therapeutic or curative properties to food, CEACCU says. CEACCU criticises manufacturers for applying labels which are misleading, or which fail to point out that to get the desired health effect one would have to consume enormous quantities of the product in question. It also criticises the use of graphic devices which imply health-giving effects and points out to consumers that "functional" foods neither cure nor prevent, by themselves alone, illness and that they are not an indispensable element of a normal diet. To find out what else CEACCU has to say, click on the link below (left) to read the rest of this article, in Spanish, on the ConsumaSeguridad website. To see what else CEACCU has to say about "alimentos milagros" ("miracle foods") and much more on its own website - again in Spanish - click on the link below (right).
10.05.04
Chupa Chups appears finally to have found the solution to its distribution problems in the United States, says the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, yesterday announcing it was to link with Spangler, a small family-owned company which is nevertheless the second-largest maker of "sweets on sticks" in the country. After its prior arrangement with
Mars broke down, some years ago, Chupa Chups now plans to move its 14-man team into
Spangler's offices in Atlanta, La Vanguardia says, and entrust the distribution of all its
confectionery products - which include Cremosa and Smint and Chupa Chups lollipos
manufactured in Mexico - to its new partner You have to register to view the La Vanguardia website (it's free) so a straightforward link to this article, in Spanish, is not an option. Instead, why not click on the link below (left) to view Chupa Chups' most recent English-language press releases, on the company's website. Or click on the link below (right) to visit Spangler's no-nonsense US website.
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