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The long and glorious passion story between Renault and the French can be told through advertising. By reflecting ̶ and sometimes anticipating ̶ social change, Renault adverts turn an amused and understanding eye on France and the lives of French people, mirroring their individual and collective unconscious.
1898: Advertising to promote the company name
Renault’s first advert was a real challenge: Louis Renault drove up the steep slope of rue Lepic in Montmartre Paris, with his Voiturette Type A. He was the first to achieve this feat, which won him his first orders. The company used motorsports as a way to promote its name. Renault won many city-to-city races, making a name for itself in both France and Europe. In the early 20th century, the adverts used by the company, which was first named “Renault Frères†and then just “Renaultâ€, were a reflection of their times, with thick, elaborate lettering and drawings of cars to emphasize speed and aerodynamics. The adverts sought to showcase French prestige, expertise and the other major field of progress of the time: aviation. Renault linked its image with that of the pioneering aviator, Hélène Boucher.
To welcome its customers in style, Renault displayed its products on the Avenue des Champs-Elysées in Paris from 1910, one of the first vehicle manufacturers to do so. With this showroom at the heart of the French capital, the brand was able to showcase its range on the premises occupied today by l’Atelier Renault. In the Edwardian era and between the two world wars, Renault sold luxury cars, relying on its reputation and its name to attract new customers. Brand identity was nurtured by the reflected glory of the FT17 tank, which played a decisive role in the first world war, and expressed in the form of the so-called “alligator†bonnets. The first logo appeared only in 1923, with the brand adopting the diamond shape in 1925. In 1934, Renault adopted an advertising slogan that would remain famous, even after 1944: “L’Automobile de Franceâ€. The brand naturally associated itself with France. Today, for French people, Renault remains France’s leading company, as indicated by the latest survey from the Viavoice Institute.
1946: Advertising during the post-war boom
After the Liberation, Renault contributed to the rebuilding of France with a range of cars, commercial vehicles and buses suited to all types of use. Renault was now a state-owned company tasked with building popular, affordable cars. In 1946, it launched the 4CV, a car that marked the start of the post-war boom years. At the same time, cars became more affordable, reflecting a new sense of freedom. With the 4CV, celebrated in the well known poster by illustrator Raymond Savignac, the French could enjoy their paid holiday leave and head for the sun via the Nationale 7 road immortalized in a song by Charles Trenet.
French society underwent many changes in the post-war years, including the baby boom, the development of city suburbs and the women’s liberation movement. All these changes brought the brand new customers. The workforce also gained new social rights. Renault was the first company to offer a third week of paid holiday (1955), followed by a fourth (1962) before this became law.
In 1963, Renault signed a partnership with Publicis for advertising communications. That same year, the dealership on the Champs-Elysées became the “Pub Renaultâ€, a warm and friendly place tasked with showcasing the brand. Advertising now used photographs to present the cars, rather than drawings. The long-serving Renault 4 kept pace with all these changes: the first campaign in 1961 highlighted its fuel economy, while the 1963 version celebrated the more feminine spirit of the “Parisienne†version. A decade later, Michel Fugain sang, “fais un tour en Renault 4, demande-lui beaucoup !†(“go for a drive in the Renault 4 and expect it to deliver the maximumâ€). In the 1980s, the Renault 4 became a car for young people and also for shopping malls, with the slogan, “Elle supermarche bienâ€, a play on “bien marcher†(to work well) and “supermarché†(supermarket). In this way, Renault advertising for the 4L accompanied the French public during thirty years of social change.
1972: Advertising in a time of crisis
The Renault 5 was an offbeat vehicle. Designed from its launch in 1972 for young people keen to break with the past: it was very much a product of the May 1968 demonstrations. The Renault 5 played on its bright colours to get itself noticed and this was reflected in the advertising, which focused on the car’s friendly, appealing looks and replaced the headlamps with big blue eyes. The “5†became a character in its own right, presented on TV in a joyous brightly coloured comic strip with a mischievous tone: “I am the Renault 5. In the city and on the road, they call me Supercarâ€. Following the oil shock, however, its other main advantage became the fuel economy of the GTL version (4.5l / 100 km). The Renault 5 became an anti-crisis vehicle expressing the social transition: its synthetic bumpers made it ideal for urban driving and awkward parking. At the same time, the customer base became younger (25% of owners under 30 at the moment of purchase) with a larger proportion of women (31%).
In the 1970s, the Renault line-up included a vehicle for every budget, from the city car (Renault 4 and 5) to the executive saloon (Renault 16) via a vehicle for the mid-range budget (Renault 6), alongside LCVs, trucks and tractors. With a range designed to meet every need, the brand played a real social role in the marketing of products tailored to all.
In the 1970s/1980s, Renault opted for innovation in the shape of the turbocharger. Based on a patent filed by Louis Renault in 1902, this development made its debut in endurance racing at the Le Mans 24-hour event and then on the Formula 1 track, where Renault vehicles proudly sported yellow, the brand’s emblematic colour. With the success of these vehicles, Renault transferred this technology to the road, particularly with the 5 Turbo. This constant quest for speed was echoed in TV advertising campaigns, with the Renault 9 and 11 putting on a burst of speed to save a truck with failed brakes, and the Renault 21 Turbo being chased down a German motorway by the Polizei, who stop the driver before letting him go.
1984: Renault, cars for living
Des voitures à vivre (cars for living) is the emblematic Renault slogan from the 1980s and the one that best reflects the brand’s thinking across the decades. The slogan was developed by Publicis and launched with the “Tranches de vie†(slices of life) film, to the backing of “Johnny and Mary†by Robert Palmer. This song could be heard in various forms in most Renault campaigns through to the 1990s. Des voitures à vivre further established Renault’s ability to reflect the needs and aspirations of men, women and families: from the Renault 16 to Twingo, via Espace, the first MPV, Renault is present alongside French men and women, at every moment in their lives.
A specialist in small cars, Renault renewed the genre in the early 1990s with Twingo and Clio. A small one-box vehicle with round, cheery features, Twingo encouraged customers to “invent a lifestyle to go with the carâ€, while Clio brought the qualities of upmarket vehicles within everybody’s reach, showing that “size mattersâ€. At the same time, its price tag made it affordable on any budget. A few years later, Renault went public. This gave the company an opportunity to communicate on the almost physical ties between the brand and its customers. In 1997, Renault launched a celebrated campaign with the slogan “ça ne marchera jamais†(it will never work), aimed at the sceptics who remained unconvinced by the brand’s bold moves. To celebrate its success in Formula 1, Renault showed its mechanics in the guise of gangsters: after six world championship titles, “it’s not a sporting record, it’s a hold-up!â€
Humour and a bold, creative approach are the hallmark of advertising at Renault. By taking risks and challenging received ideas through its campaigns, Renault can demonstrate the safety of brand models, with a ballet of cars crashing into each other for example, or maybe refer to the cultural and social realities of French people through blended families or gay marriage, or celebrate a break in the wall… of sound with its emblematic electric vehicle, the silent ZOE.
2015: Renault – Passion for life
In 2010, Renault adopted a new design strategy, starting with the concept car DeZir, a declaration of love for cars. Renault’s design renewal, based on a life cycle concept, took practical shape in 2012 with the launch of New Clio, a vehDesicle of sensual forms with Flame Red bodywork to revive the flame burning in the hearts of car fans everywhere. Following the launches of Captur, New Twingo and New Espace, it is time for Renault to support the renewal of the brand with a new advertising slogan: “Passion for life†and, more specifically for France “La vie, avec passionâ€. With this signature, Renault remains loyal to the values expressed by “cars for livingâ€. “Passion for life†is a tribute to life, lived to the full, vibrant and exciting, warm and creative, bold and free, because people are at the heart of Renault’s DNA.
Renault has also decided to deploy a new tagline to support its promotional offers: the French Touch. Embodied by the actor Nicolas Carpentier, this series of films plays on received ideas, cultural stereotypes and humour. Sometimes featuring popular celebrities such as judoka Teddy Riner or basketball player Tony Parker, the “French Touch†adverts convey the image of a familiar brand that is close to people and understands them.
In 2015, Renault called on an international icon, actor Kevin Spacey, hero of “House of Cardsâ€. At the wheel of New Espace, the man who spends his life playing other people, from a father going through a mid-life crisis to the President of the US via a disreputable crook… he can at last play his own role and enjoy the passing of time at the wheel of his Espace… Another original way to celebrate life, once more with passion!
2015 sees Renault update its logo; not for the first time. We take a look back at 118 years of Renault and its logos.
1898: Birth of a company
Renault was founded in 1898 by the three brothers Louis, Marcel and Fernand Renault. The company was initially called “Renault-Frères†and the first logo in 1900 featured the brother’s initials, with two entwined Rs in an “Art Nouveau†medallion. Used primarily on internal documents, this emblem was not used on brand vehicles, which could be recognized only by the name “Renault-Frères†on the running board and the initials LR (for Louis Renault) carved onto the wheel hubs.
In 1906, the medallion was replaced by an image of the Renault that won the first French Grand Prix, shown inside a gear wheel. On becoming the sole manager of the company, Louis Renault changed the name from “Renault-Frères†to “Société des Automobiles Renault†in 1910. At the end of the First World War, due to its contribution to the Allied victory by producing FT17 tanks, Renault modified its logo to feature this celebrated armoured vehicle. In 1922, Louis Renault changed again the name of its company to “Société Anonyme des Usines Renaultâ€.
In 1923, Renault decided for the first time to place a front-end logo on its vehicles to make them more easily identifiable. It adopted a round grille with the name of Renault in the centre. This logo was both functional and essential since behind the grille at the front of the bonnet was… the horn! Regulations required this function to be positioned at the front behind a metal grille. Tailored to the specific snout shape of Renault’s “Alligator†bonnet, the logo was split in two by a central line.
1925: The adoption of the diamond
The round logo of 1923 soon gained more angular contours, better suited to the dihedral-shaped bonnets with their two plane faces and central dividing line. The diamond was used alongside the round grille from 1924, appearing on the front of the 40-CV Type NM executive tourer. This geometrical symbol was definitively adopted in 1925. In the first instance, the diamond was used exclusively on luxury sports vehicles identified by the name Stella from 1929.
Over the 1930s, the identity evolved gradually and was progressively adopted across the company. During this period, the company also gained a famous brand signature: “Renault, l’Automobile de France†(“Renault, The Automobile of Franceâ€).
The nationalization of Renault on January 16, 1945 marked a change in status. The company became the Régie Nationale des Usines Renault. The name “Renault†was used as the commercial brand. The brand signature evolved to become: “Plus que jamais, Renault, l’Automobile de France†(“More than ever, Renault, the Automobile of Franceâ€). From 1946, these changes were also reflected in the diamond logo, which was published in colour for the first time on official documents. Yellow became the emblematic colour of the brand.
The diamond became indistinguishable from Renault and was included in all documents and adverts. In 1959, from the Renault 4, the cars and the sales network began to use a new, narrower logo called the Pointe de Diamant or diamond tip. The emblem still included the name “Renault†etched in slimmer lettering but the words “Régie Nationale†disappeared. Positioned in some cases on the right of the asymmetric grille (as on the Renault 8, for example), the logo was also used as a decorative feature on the body sides (particularly on the rear wings of the Renault 16). On internal documents, the black-and-white logo always had a yellow background.
1972: The famous Vasarely diamond
To further underline the strength of the diamond, the company decided in 1972 to make it wider with cleaner lines. The diamond became more prominent and the name of Renault was no longer included. The company decided to bring into play its Art & Industry policy, set up in 1967, with contributors including painter and visual artist Victor Vasarely. Working with his son Yvaral, the founder of op art created a logo based on parallel lines. The result was both simple and intricate, high-tech and visually attractive. The Renault 5 became the first model to feature the “new diamondâ€.
Since 1963, Renault asked the agency Publicis to create its advertising campaigns. In 1985, this agency came up with one of the company’s most emblematic signatures: “Renault, Des Voitures à Vivre†(“Renault, cars for livingâ€). Twenty years after the Vasarely logo, Renault decided to review its visual identity to express the quality standards embodied by the brand. The 1992 logo was equally elegant but simpler and stronger with its 3D relief. It was an emblem suggesting the quality and robust strength of brand products. Renault’s name also appeared under the diamond in each document or advert.
In 2000, the brand adopted the brand signature “Créateur d’Automobiles†(“Creator of Automobilesâ€) and updated its visual identity, placing the diamond symbol inside a yellow square to bring out its relief and substance in 2004. Three years later, the international signature became “RENAULT – Drive the Changeâ€, heralding Renault’s innovation in new territories with the arrival of the electric vehicle range.
2015: Renault – Passion for life
With the renewal of the range well underway, Renault has chosen this moment to launch a new Brand signature, ‘RENAULT – Passion for life’. At the same time as the new brand signature, Renault’s Corporate Design Department has carried out a review of the brand’s graphic identity. The Renault diamond has been made bolder and has been freed from the confinement of its surrounding outline – it now shared the attributes of the generous, higher-status, brighter logo that adorns the front of the brand’s latest models. The Renault yellow, which has been made brighter and warmer, is visible as a vertical strip to the logo’s right. This evolution concerns all the company’s marketing and communication materials – from advertising, both audio and visual (TV, print, posters, radio, etc), to websites, exhibition stands, special events, merchandising, and clothing.