More Stupid Than the Others

So inevitably I will end up writing about things I like and are relevant to me in attempt to make others aware of their existance, but never to force them to like them. I’ll try to explain things that seem obvious to me but not to others even though sometimes I fail at it, missing important facts and details.
For a bit of useless info, I read about one thousand feeds with Google Reader nowadays and sometimes I delete some of them which haven’t been updated in ages or ones that seem irrelevant to me (like when I want to buy a car, I might be reading some blogs about cars and reviews but then the interest dies out). It’s just a passing thing, if I get over a stage in my life like buying a house, a car, a new camera, chances are I won’t be interested in reading about housing prices or specialty camera reviews in the upcoming year.

I’ve noticed two executions today that sparked my interest, some very strange looking Audi TT posters on “I Believe in Advertising“. Here’s just one of the two ads coming from Italy (DDB), image from the blog linked earlier:

Audi TT - Welcome on board.

The graphics might make your head feel like a frisbee and at most you can relate them to those things made by the kind of people that feature in CR with their board designs, album art and so on. The whole thing about snowboarding is having a board that looks cool when you ride it, when you’re stationary and when you’re taking a picture with it. I never went skiing in my life so I wouldn’t know but the ultimate goal of a snowboard is to make its owner proud, most designs being easily recognised by those passionate about this kind of thing. You can picture two blokes in a film saying ‘Did you see Ellie? She got herself a Salomon‘ - ‘Yeah mate, I’ve noticed, shame really, she was so hot‘. Yeah, like that! Your board just becomes more important than you when your name isn’t famous.

I had to mention all this about snowboarding and boards and whatnot because the Audi TT Quattro is “known to be the one preferred by snowboarders. These two ads were planned only for snowboarding magazines. “

Excuse me? Really? I’m a bit in doubt about a few things here:

1. Yes, we know snowboarding is an expensive sport if you’re not privileged enough to have been born in France, Austria, northern Italy and the Alps, anywhere in Norway or near a decent slope, meaning about 85% of Europe that was unfortunate so targetting these ads towards boarders makes some sense. All these exotic locations are expensive for those that don’t live in any of the countries mentioned, chances are even if your country has a few locations, they are either rubbish or will damage your board. Or it just so happens that there’s no snow one given year and you’re screwed.
2. Since I’ve been snowboarding I haven’t noticed anyone with an Audi carrying their snowboarding equipment because Audi is a posh car, snowboarding is a rough sport. It’s not all glamorous neon pink suits and goggles shining in pictures. People reading snowboarding magazines know that. “Elbows are red, ankles are blue, three hours of make-up will probably do” (source) - it’s like that, you see. You can afford to buy an Audi but dragging it up all the way to the slope will make you feel bad about torturing it and you’ll have to stuff your things in the car sa it’s not that big on the inside.
3. No, I haven’t been going to cheap ass resorts just for the record.
4. People who can afford a board with graphics like those in the ad (about £500 for your boots, board and bindings) and holidays can probably afford an Audi (About £33,000) but as I said earlier, Italy seems to have an interesting take on advertising and consumer insights. Very much like France I’d say. Given we’re only talking about snowboarding magazines in Italy it seems odd. I know they’re into expensive cars and luxury is by far more important in Italy than it is in the UK but this is taking it a bit too far. It doesn’t make sense, why make an ad only for Italy then? Audi isn’t for sale only in Italy.
   
5. The moment you buy an Audi and take it to the slope you’re no longer a snowboarder, you’re a poser. It’s just a tag that you’ll never get rid of, unless everyone else in the parking lot owns an Audi, a Porsche, a Volvo XC90 and so on. Then I’ll take my words back!

It just feels as if they’re saying “Look, we made this Audi just for you, because you’re a snowboarder. We even made you ads to go with it. Will you please like it, please?“

Is Italy that different from the rest of the world?