Skoda’s ‘meaner side’ shines at British TV Advertising Awards

On Wednesday 16 March, Skoda UK was awarded silver at the British Television Advertising Awards, now known as the British Arrows, in the Vehicle Advertising category.

The annual award ceremony, held at Battersea Evolution in Battersea Park, London, was attended by more than 1,000 guests.  Skoda’s marketing team was among those at the event, which saw the new Fabia vRS launch advert beat off stiff competition from 17 entrants in the category.

The 12-week campaign, which launched on 1 November 2010, centered on a 60-second TV commercial, in which Skoda unveiled a ‘meaner’ side for the high-performance Fabia vRS. The advert featured a ‘Made of Meaner Stuff’ strapline – a darker twist on the Fabia’s ‘Made of Lovely Stuff’ proposition which was made famous by the 2007 Fabia ‘Cake’ commercial.

Heidi Cartledge, Head of Marketing at Skoda UK, said: “This was our biggest campaign ever in the UK, and was designed to engage our brand with new audiences.  The ‘Made of Meaner Stuff’ advert, combined with our wider campaign activities, saw Skoda reach a younger, ‘hot hatch’ demographic in addition to our mainstream and loyal customers.  We’re delighted that the public and industry experts alike enjoy the ad as much as we do.”

The ‘meaner’ campaign was the brainchild of Skoda UK and leading advertising agency, Fallon, and saw the original ‘Cake’ creative directors Chris Bovill and John Allison join forces with acclaimed director Nick Gordon.  Working with such industry-leading creatives shows Skoda’s commitment to developing and executing exciting advertising campaigns.

“2010 saw record volume sales for Skoda and we now have a larger market share than ever before,” added Heidi. “We plan to continue investing in marketing over the next five years to support the brand’s ambitious growth aspirations.

“We’re delighted with this award and would like to thank everyone that voted for us.”

The awards jury, chaired by Nick Gill, Executive Creative Director at BBH, included Tony Davidson, Creative Director at Wieden+Kennedy London, Damon Collins, Executive Creative Director at Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R, Stephen Butler, Creative Director at Mother, Peter Duffy, Marketing Director at Easyjet, Craig Inglis, Director of Marketing at John Lewis Partnership and Richard Larcombe, Director of Advertising and Sponsorship at Virgin Media.

British Arrows is the new name for the British Television Advertising Awards which began in 1976 to recognise and reward the best television and cinema commercials made by British advertising agencies and production companies.