week 5, post 2

Saab ads, Ecopower 9-3 model

The ads above leave an interesting impression of the Saab company. Saab is a leading car company in Sweden and is important culturally because it is a Swedish brand sold internationally. I have been interested to see how they relate themselves with the Swedish people as a company, but have not seen too many of their ads around town, probably because the community uses public transportation and bikes so heavily. On my way to Willy's, located outside of the center of town, I noticed this series of 4 Saab ads. It has a strategic location because this is the road which people use to leave Uppsala to enter the highway. Given that car owners pass this site, this was a great spot for Saab to say something. It is interesting that they placed 4 ads side by side, because nobody can realistically read all 4 at the same time. With ads like this, it gives a viewer the incentive to come back to the spot and read another tagline. From the translations I got, the ads seemed rather confident! Saab is placing itself as the cutting edge, best choice, very sure of itself. I think given that fact that Saabs are covering the Swedish highways, they can do this and it works with its audience. It is reinforcing the relationship of Swedish loyalty to this brand, and poking fun at those that do not, simply by giving them the 'you're missing out' treatment. The strategy here would not work in the US, because many other American car brands use this. Locally, it is successful, but internationally would need to change into a more informative and humble attitude. The ad can be very nationalistic for Sweden because of the high amount of pride presented by Saab, and serves as another supporter for a common theme of Swedish nationalism shown through advertising.