Driving the Change. Blake Ludwig, Consultant We Are Futureproof

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Bartholomew Boone
8 years ago
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1 Driving the Change Blake Ludwig, Consultant We Are Futureproof

2 Car Advertising Drives Me Crazy!

3 About We Are Futureproof As a consultancy, we have always worked to be creative & lighthearted We re a Think Tank - asking questions and changing our minds We try and stir up debate We like to commission research We look for thought leaders and new designers to interview for our podcasts

changing our minds We try and stir up debate We like to commission

4 We Are Futureproof: UK Experience of Car Advertising WRFP have looked at over 1,000 samples of car adverts from 6 European countries WRFP have formally submitted over 100 test complaints to the VCA and ASA since 2006 WRFP won a legal challenge to the UK government in 2008 on outdoor advertising WRFP have produced two reports on car advertising and recommendations to the EU Commission

the VCA and ASA since 2006 WRFP won a legal challenge to the UK government in 2008 on outdoor

5 Legal Challenge Since 1999 the UK Government has omitted a requirement that outdoor car adverts should display environmental information. They argued the ads were often primarily graphical in nature and didn t require info. This was in direct contradiction to the 1999 EU Directive requiring all printed adverts to display the CO2 and mpg figures As of late 2008 all outdoor adverts must display CO2 and mpg information. The info should be readable from across the road.

This was in direct contradiction to the 1999 EU Directive requiring all printed adverts to display the CO2 and mpg

6 Pre-2008: No CO2 emissions data Post-2008 legal challenge - Billboards now require CO2 data

7 A Few Examples of Car Adverts

8 This tiny symbol says the Green Award, from 4x4 magazine. The justification for the award is not provided in the advert. Only one model won the award but somehow all of the range are green 4x4s suddenly The emissions of the range go up to 381gm CO2/km! The least fuelefficient model gets 13 mpg!

Only one model won the award but somehow all of the range are green 4x4s

9 Can a car advert say that it is fuel efficient? Is 180 gm/km CO2 low, medium or high emissions? After our ASA complaint was partially upheld: low emissions claim removed

10 Confused use of font sizes and colour The CO2 information is required to be this large, this prominent, and this easy to read The CO2 and fuel economy info is small and faded. This ad is illegal according to the EU Directive

11 What would make car ads better? Display a traffic light scheme, like we have on healthy eating food labels: red -amber-green? Ensure ads are easy to read Adverts should display information that is clear and meaningful to the consumer Display the info or label in a standard location and prescribed size across all adverts

12 Taking the Consumer s Perspective In 2009 we asked, what do consumer s actually think about car adverts? We commissioned a survey to ask consumers to compare two car adverts we created for a fictional new car, the Marko

We commissioned a survey to ask consumers to compare

13 The first advert is conventional with the CO2 and mpg information displayed along the bottom

14 In the second advert we replaced the info with an energy efficiency label. The label is identical to those displayed in UK car showrooms.

15 Results YouGov surveyed over 2,000 people across all age groups in the UK Only 31 per cent could identify that the car being advertised was a low emission car with good fuel economy, in car tax band B. When shown an advert carrying a colour-coded scale, 56 per cent of people chose the correct level of emissions and fuel economy for the car being advertised. When asked which format was easiest to understand, the showroom-style format was preferred by 67 percent of people.

When shown an advert carrying a colour-coded scale, 56 per cent of people chose the correct level of emissions and

16 People Power We commissioned a survey to ask: What do people on the streets in London think about new car adverts? The participants looked at the same ads used for our You Gov Poll

17 General Outcome Car adverts are confusing Consumers bring their own information to the adverts Consumers trust the imagery more than the technical data Adding the colour label made a big change, but more research is needed to find the best metrics and best label format

the technical data Adding the colour label made a big change, but

18 Big Question 1: Is Better Enforcement Needed? Does self regulation really work? The vote is out in the UK Both the ASA and VCA are dependent on complaints from civil society. We need a much more proactive enforcement mechanism Speed up the investigation process - We waited 8 months for our biofuels test case with the ASA on Saab s BioPower advert Apply meaningful fiscal penalties for any noncompliance. In 10 years, no one has been levied a fine by the VCA despite continued breaches

We need a much more proactive enforcement mechanism Speed up the investigation process - We waited 8 months for our

19 Big Question 2: What is Green, Really? Being less bad is not the same is good. No car is currently green. All cars pollute Greener today really means less polluting, or less damaging to humans and the environment Better efficiency is still working in the old paradigm Can we actually redesign a product from the ground up that is positive for the environment? We need to agree to new values of what is good and what is bad.

environment Better efficiency is still working in the old paradigm Can we actually redesign a product

20 We Are Futureproof The Hub, 5 Torrens Street, London EC1V 1NQ, UK

The Passenger Car (Fuel Consumption and CO 2 Emissions Information) Regulations

The Passenger Car (Fuel Consumption and CO 2 Emissions Information) Regulations Vehicle Certification Agency 1, The Eastgate Centre Eastgate Road Bristol BS5 6XX Telephone: 0117 952 4169 E-mail: enquiries@vca.gov.uk