Spaniards cultivate their national and regional customs, care for tradition, and live according to the rhythm set by their ancestors. Not every inhabitant of the Iberian Peninsula reflects on these mechanisms, but they all follow well-trodden paths, trusting the choices of their parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc.
You will find confirmation of this rule also in the public space of Spanish cities. Historic townhouses or modern shopping centres – you can admire them in their full glory, as they are not obscured by large-format outdoor advertisements. But do we owe this state of affairs solely to Spaniards' attachment to tradition? Not only. The digitalisation of communication, and consequently of the advertising world, definitely contributes to the care that Spanish city authorities take for the aesthetic dimension of public space. Passers-by focus their attention mainly on the screens of their smartphones, not on advertising messages in their surroundings. Tourists, meanwhile, occasionally tear their eyes away from their phones to take a photo of the area, and each such photograph is like a ready-made postcard from a journey, undisturbed by the presence of billboards or intrusive signs.
Because a good product sells itself?
This of course does not mean that outdoor advertising in Spain does not exist, but it has been reduced to a minimum and corresponds with the aesthetics of public space and its historic character. The city area as a collection of artefacts from the past is complemented by the symbolic and subtle presence of brands. Symbolic, because condensed into the form of a logo or brand name, but used in a logical and meaningful way. Subtle, because the design of the representation of the brand's product/service is subordinated to the harmony of the place, building or premises in which it is placed.
For example, in almost every bar or restaurant you will find a beer advertisement, and almost everywhere it will have a retro stylisation or the form of a mosaic. Thanks to this, brands not only do not interfere with the existing space, but even emphasise its historic character, and thus their own market history. They therefore do not have much room for manoeuvre in the sphere of design itself; they must base their efforts on the ingenious use of non-standard advertising surfaces and, above all, on sponsorship activities. Not every bar can boast nineteenth-century mosaics around its entrance, and furnishing the interior costs a great deal, e.g. bar stools, timeless wooden barrels used as tables at which Spaniards drink caňas (beer with a delicate head served in small glasses) and eat tapas standing up. Companies such as Mahou come to the rescue – one of the most popular beer brands in Spain, whose subtle logos you will find in many places, among others on the aforementioned decorative mosaics, barrel-tables, chairs, or classic blackboards displaying the menu of the day.
No room for large format
The capacity of Spanish urban space in terms of advertising potential thus shrinks to the level of simply marking utilitarian objects with a brand name, or marking a sponsored event with a logo increasingly resembling a sign. If, therefore, a company wants to stand out from the rest, it must find a very visible place of public use and locate its logo there, and consequently leave a large sum of money there. We can, however, assume that this is a budget concentrated on a strategic communication point, which has not been fragmented into banners in other parts of the city, for example due to a lack of advertising media.
It is enough to cite the famous example of the controversial Vodafone smartphone advertisement, whose name was incorporated into the name of the Sol metro station, the central point of Madrid. There is a Vodafone shop on Plaza del Sol, so using the brand's name and logo at this particular metro station needs no additional slogan or commentary. The message is clear – you get off at Vodafone – Sol station, where you will find a shop of the aforementioned brand located on the capital's main square. The city road authority's consent to this branding sparked a discussion about the limits of advertising's interference in the public sphere, yet the advertisement in the form of the usual public transport information plaques was present at this station for 2 years.
Subtle product placement
Interference in another brand's naming is used in Spain by many companies, which is often simultaneously linked to arts patronage. The ice cream brand Häagen-Dazs placed itself right in the middle of the name of a theatre it financially supported for several years – Teatro Calderon changed its name for that time to Teatro Häagen-Dazs Calderon, later the insurance company Caser took that spot, and then the theatre returned to its classic name. Currently, when going to the Teatro Alcázar theatre, above the main entrance we will find the name of the insurance company Cofidis, and consequently we will go to Teatro Cofidis Alcázar and that is also the name we should look for online.
All open cultural events, which are particularly often organised in Madrid, are to a significant extent patronised by the aforementioned company Mahou. This consistent presence of the beer brand at all kinds of vintage markets, art, design and music events is already so strongly associated with the brand's image that if one day Mahou were missing from one of the "hipster" events – it would be immediately noticeable.
The selection of advertising formats permitted in public space also means a selection of brands that have the possibility of appearing there, which consequently means that we can expect contact with the largest brands, with the largest budgets, while other companies in a given industry must forge their own path in the online space.
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