Ian Becattelli, Mike Pepp
CONTEXT RESEARCH
Hamburg 1998
QUALIS INTERNATIONAL
QUALIS INTERNATIONAL
QUALIS INTERNATIONAL
QUALIS INTERNATIONAL  
Developing Better Pan-European Advertising

Pan-European advertising is a double-edged sword. On the one hand it offers brand status and cost savings; on the other, it can present internal political difficulties and require creative ideas which cross cultural boundaries.

Advertising, like other elements of popular culture, has developed its own particular system of meanings or codes. These are culturally defined and frequently vary between countries. Consequently, advertising is composed and read differently across Europe.

A key difference in advertising codes relates to the use of metaphors and metonyms. Currently much pan-European advertising is metonymical in nature (for example, showing a member of the target audience at the moment of consumption). This is because it is harder to find metaphors that will travel across borders. Thus, pan-European advertising is frequently guilty of a bland, safe or anodyne approach.

However, research methodologies can be developed which eschew the ?lowest common denominator? approach and instead tap into existing advertising codes. By implementing the right kind of research programme in the right way we can develop more creative, metaphorical solutions to cross-cultural brand communication.