Monday, April 18, 2011

Auvergne changes a life: Video advertising campaign

Recently, one more French region, Auvergne, has come up with a new marketing campaign designed to bring people to its beautiful rural towns and typical countryside. Urban migration has been a real concern for many rural towns and regions in the past decades and thus, territorial marketing is seen as a tool in reversing this phenomenon.

In this context, Auvergne made 4 short videos depicting the new life of an entrepreneur who wishes to start a business in a small town. He is fresh from the city and seems lost and confused about life in the countryside. The videos show that life is much easier and very different from life in big cities: they cleverly (and with a lot of humour) show that the newcomer cannot adapt because the quality of life is too good for him.

This first video shows that he is living in a cabin in his garden because the house is too big for him. He then takes us on a tour of the house saying that he is going to put up walls to make the place look smaller, that he loves his "egg" chair because it reminds him of his studio, that they need to stay close together otherwise they might get lost, using his GPS to find his way (noting that one has loads of network here), discovering new rooms as they go and complaining about the noise coming from the garden.



The second video shows him going to the market and pointing out that to-many people say “hello”. He looks slightly scared and does not really know how to react. The video finishes by saying that “Auvergne is a surprising country”



The third video shows him going to the local office to start his company. He comes out looking completely broken hearted and says that it went really well, that people were really nice and even offered him coffee and food. He says that he really needs to be left alone and goes off looking sad.



The last video shows our man walking through the village and talking to people he meets. He says that it’s really hard to change regions because you have to recreate a social network for yourself and that here, in the countryside, one needs to be vigilant. He ends by noting that people don’t even tie their bikes up when they leave them and scolds someone for not doing so.



This is a clever marketing campaign because it really takes us through all the stereotypes about cities and countryside. The videos always start by asking the written question “are you ready to change your life?” Then they say that “Auvergne changes a life” and they push the viewer to “let yourself go!” 

By J.Berry
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2 comments:

  1. I spent my childhood in Auvergne (St Eloy-Les-Mines). I will definitely support this campaign! Thought, my Auvergne is more of blueberry pies, mushrooms and St Nectaire!

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  2. Interesting comment by Rimma Boyko on our Linkedin group (link at the end of the article):

    "This really interesting ads adressed to each person who is ready to change his life. And, by the way, it is in the frame of current movement to "enviromental friendly life", it targets people with escapism trend taking care about their health, the life quality, and finally, the soul. These shooting was done in a very professional way using smart combination of traditional simbols that attribute to a easy, confortable life in a countryside and "modern individual' that is ready to integrate into the new enviroment.
    As to the real impact of this adv campaign it is highly depends on the budget distribution, media coice etc. Good luck! "

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