The Citroën DS is an iconic model introduced in 1955, a high-end sedan used by French presidents. It was futuristic with its unbroken lines and curved glass surfaces, and it was extremely innovative, featuring swiveling headlights and a unique hydropneumatic suspension system. It made such an impact on the public psyche that semiologist Roland Barthes wrote an essay about its cultural significance.
With the new Mini, the Fiat 500 (and the neo-classic logo redesign), the Toyota Origin, the Chrysler PT Cruiser, or the 2002 Ford Thunderbird, retro (or “retrofuturistic”) fashion is big in the car industry, and has been a major driver of visual innovation and brand positioning.
However, with the launch of the new DS3, Citroën has taken a radical approach: the new DS is pitched as “anti-retro”. “Never look back”, proclaims the ad.
The original DS is loved by collectors, and can be considered the epitome of the classic car. In an interesting twist to brand heritage management, Citroën’s positioning of the new model reverses this pattern, and they use the DS brand to describe an extremely modern car instead, leaving most of the “retro” behind, and focusing on the futuristic.
Perhaps Citroën consider the retro movement is no longer an important cultural pattern (after all, it’s been a strong trend for over a decade already). But perhaps they identified progress, innovation (the perception of innovation), and futurism as the true values of the Citroën brand and its DS subbrand, despite the numerous models that now count as classics.
The online campaign features somewhat generic branded content where interviewees point out their favorite spots in cities while driving the interviewer around in a DS3. The videos are very well produced (nice interview style, and pretty awesome beauty/action shots of the cars), but I find the overall effort rather poor.
The topic isn’t very credible: the cities they cover (Paris, London, Barcelona, Brussels, Rome, Berlin) are generally quite car-unfriendly, and traffic has magically vanished from the videos. My experience of the hipster crowd is that very few of them drive in those specific cities, when they drive at all.
What’s more, the set of videos is offered without the maps promised by the campaign’s name (“Street Mapper”), limiting the content to entertainment rather than actually useful information. And the campaign is not integrated in the rest of the Citroën online presence, trying to be a destination of its own.
On the other hand, Konbini (“entertainment for the digital generation”) has done a good job of hitting a very modern tone, quite in line with the DS3 brand values expressed elsewhere. Also, recruiting creators around key cities certainly produced buzz.
It seems it’s precisely by remaining forward-looking, and by not wallowing in nostalgia, that Citroën means to maintain its ability to turn out future classics. Will someone ever call a movie The Goddess of 2011?
Citroën DS3 launch: anti-retro
The Citroën DS is an iconic model introduced in 1955, a high-end sedan used by French presidents. It was futuristic with its unbroken lines and curved glass surfaces, and it was extremely innovative, featuring swiveling headlights and a unique hydropneumatic suspension system. It made such an impact on the public psyche that semiologist Roland Barthes wrote an essay about its cultural significance.
With the new Mini, the Fiat 500 (and the neo-classic logo redesign), the Toyota Origin, the Chrysler PT Cruiser, or the 2002 Ford Thunderbird, retro (or “retrofuturistic”) fashion is big in the car industry, and has been a major driver of visual innovation and brand positioning.
However, with the launch of the new DS3, Citroën has taken a radical approach: the new DS is pitched as “anti-retro”. “Never look back”, proclaims the ad.
The original DS is loved by collectors, and can be considered the epitome of the classic car. In an interesting twist to brand heritage management, Citroën’s positioning of the new model reverses this pattern, and they use the DS brand to describe an extremely modern car instead, leaving most of the “retro” behind, and focusing on the futuristic.
Perhaps Citroën consider the retro movement is no longer an important cultural pattern (after all, it’s been a strong trend for over a decade already). But perhaps they identified progress, innovation (the perception of innovation), and futurism as the true values of the Citroën brand and its DS subbrand, despite the numerous models that now count as classics.
The online campaign features somewhat generic branded content where interviewees point out their favorite spots in cities while driving the interviewer around in a DS3. The videos are very well produced (nice interview style, and pretty awesome beauty/action shots of the cars), but I find the overall effort rather poor.
The topic isn’t very credible: the cities they cover (Paris, London, Barcelona, Brussels, Rome, Berlin) are generally quite car-unfriendly, and traffic has magically vanished from the videos. My experience of the hipster crowd is that very few of them drive in those specific cities, when they drive at all.
What’s more, the set of videos is offered without the maps promised by the campaign’s name (“Street Mapper”), limiting the content to entertainment rather than actually useful information. And the campaign is not integrated in the rest of the Citroën online presence, trying to be a destination of its own.
On the other hand, Konbini (“entertainment for the digital generation”) has done a good job of hitting a very modern tone, quite in line with the DS3 brand values expressed elsewhere. Also, recruiting creators around key cities certainly produced buzz.
It seems it’s precisely by remaining forward-looking, and by not wallowing in nostalgia, that Citroën means to maintain its ability to turn out future classics. Will someone ever call a movie The Goddess of 2011?