Advert of the week : Move over to Austin Rover
December 18, 2011
· 
Keith Adams · 
35 Comments
Keith Adams
Move over to Austin Rover
In 1982, Austin Rover had a fair bit of new metal to crow about. Given it was still enjoying the post-launch euphoria of the Metro had yet to die off, the ‘Move over to Austin Rover’ seemed like a good way of promoting the newly introduced follow on models. So, the actor Patrick Mower was drafted in to sell the Mini-E models, Ambassador, Ital, Acclaim and revised Rover SD1 in an advert that managed to sell the facelifted cars’ best assets.
Of course, with the Maestro and Montego on their way, it was as much about keeping the interest up during some very hard times, and to give the cars their due, they did manage to sustain sales during a very tough few months of selling. Was it the right kind of advertising campaign? To sell cars seriously, probably not. But to rally the troops, get customers in to dealers, and keep BL’s model range in the public eye… it could have been worse.
Besides, it makes a great tagline for the site!
Related posts:
- Advert of the week : MG Rover corporate video
- Advert of the week : Rover SD1
- Advert of the week : Montego 1.6L
- Advert of the week : British Leyland
- Advert of the week : Peugeot 405
35 Responses
Patrick Mower, “Moved over” from AR to Emmerdale…
– from bad to worse
Keith
ARG Advertising wasn’t quite as subjective as you might think. We had some pretty heavyweight research activities going on (e.g. CATS – Continuous Advertising Tracking Survey, a collaborative scheme involving other manufacturers) which analysed the effect of advertising on public opinion, sales rates etc.
The consensus in those days was that we had a bigger problem with corporate image (Strikes and so on) than we had with individual model images, so some ‘range advertising’ was considered desirable and indeed effective. We also had research that proved that if we got people to take test drives, then we got good sales conversion rates – another reason for ads aimed at getting people into dealerships rather than promoting individual models. BTW – Patrick Mower was a Cowley Apprentice !
Ian,
As ever, brilliant insight. Thank you.
Regards
Keith
Must say, I’m surprised at just how many AR car’s were still available in 1982.
Despite all the enthusiasm in the advert, it was clear that some models were outdated even then.
Such a shame that Triumph didn’t survive as a car manufacturer.
I notice “Triumph” motobikes are something of a success story. But I wonder in terms of Car manufacturing, who actually own’s the Triumph name now?
I vaguely remember this advert (a young Patrick M!). Certainly recall the tagline. The most appealing cars to me here, are the SD1 & Acclaim. The Ital looks rather unappealing in the showroom shot. I have to say I never considered – and never would buy an Ital! No wonder Vauxhall & Ford had more market share back then…
@4 BMW owns the rights to Triumph Cars. They kept the marque, along with Mini and Riley after the breakup of Rover Group.
@4 dzt103. In 1992 I worked on a video programme for Triumph Motorbikes built at Hinckley. Not sure who the owner of them is now. I agree it’s a shame Triumph cars also don’t exist these days. When they were on their game they were really desirable vehicles.
So, after all these years, I learn that it’s pronounced Morris E-tal.
Nice to see the TR7 in the same showroom as the Acclaim. The TR must have been running out by then.
@6 H.Jones
Thanks for that.
I just wondered if there was ever a chance of seeing the name Triumph again.
I suppose that is at least possible, albeit under BMW.
Maybe when BMW get tired of the MINI brand, they may turn their attention to another respected British marque.
I’M SHOUTING! IT MEANS I SPEAK THE TRUTH! Looks like the Ambassador left the factory without the parcel shelf.
that bloody ital looked so eastern bloc in the showroom
I thought the Acclaim was going to rear end shunt the Metro there. Great ad, thanks!
The 1981-82 Itals’s possessed those awful thick door decals.
The improved SL/SLX models for 1983 thankfully returned to sanity.
@12 Francis… I agree the ITAL looks a poor design next to the Acclaim (albeit Honda). In retrospect, the Acclaim was a good car for BL to build back in those days and much more appealing in the showroom.
Does anyone know in what capacity Patrick Mower worked for (I guess) BL?
@ Simon Hodgetts
If my memory serves me right, he worked in the Service Publications Dept at Cowley as a draughtsman.
Great ad, and very much a ‘rallying the troops’ bit of marketing.
I think we can possibly be a bit over-critical of BL cars, probably because we know them TOO well. Over the years I have owned mostly cars from the BL/AR/MGR stable, with a couple of Fords and a Vauxhall in between. I have to say that none of the other marques hold any lasting appeal, and am still pround of the fact that I own 2 classic Minis, a Hornet and MG Midget. I can’t think of any other marque that can lay claim to a car that stands up to any of these. The simplicity of working on them and parts avalability will mean I can keeo them on the road for years to come, not so sure there are many Fords or Vauxhalls of similar age that can say the same
“VFM !”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwBpBerLCCs&feature=related
I can remember that advert and finding it quite believable. At that stage of course the Maestro and Montego had yet to be launched. Two years later and it was business as usual. The company was doomed!
@16 – the answer to your question is in Ian Elliott’s comment (number 2)…
For all those who are pedantic about German plates on the German BINI:
The motorway sign is for LHD countries, with the fork to the right.
British (and Irish/Cyprus etc.) motorway signs have the fork to the left. (I guess the exception may be Glasgow, with the outside lane junction near Charing Cross!)
ARG had a series of these adverts in the pre Graham Day days, in which the adverts were for the company, rather than for the product.
It’s a wide range of cars, as much of the 70s product line (Marina, Princess, TR7) was still around (in facelifted form). A crying shame that the TR7 was allowed to die, as with the loss of the MG, TR7 and Dolomite, ARG lost much of the premium product, and ceded market share to the likes of BMW, Audit, Volvo and SAAB (RIP).
@4: Triumph motorcycles are of course unrelated to Triumph Cars. I do wonder whether BMW will ever do anything with the brands they still have – I actually suspect not.
Meanwhile, much as I loved (most) Rover/BL products, surely the best bits of the wider group were saved and still exist?
Leyland Trucks are now the PACCAR/DAF facility and turning out more trucks than they ever did.
Mini – likewise, no-one could argue against the success and strength of that brand.
Jaguar – The best range they have had since 1974 with the sales to show for it.
Land Rover – As per Jaguar but with higher production than ever.
Let’s face it, the other ‘mainstream’ brands were dead in the water long before MGRover’s eventual collapse….
I actually met Patrick Mower around that time when they had a motorshow in Leeds at the newly built Aireside park. Ken Dodd was also there! Didn’t he present some form of motoring show on Channel 4 in the early years too?
From Wikipaedo…. note he was once an ‘engineering draughtsman at the BMC Cowley plant’….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Mower
Mower was born in Oxford to a Welsh father and English mother.
In his 2007 autobiography, Mower states that having believed for years that his year of birth was 1940, but later discovered that his birth was not registered and he was born on 12 September 1938 (On the IMDb it says “1940″).[1] In addition, several reference books on film and television, including Who’s Who On the Screen (1983) and Who’s Who on Television (1996), give Mower’s town of birth as Pontypridd, South Wales, instead of Oxford. In 2007 Mower took part in the BBC Wales programme Coming Home about his Welsh family history.
He attended Southfield Grammar School in Oxford,[2] and after first training as an engineering draughtsman at the BMC Cowley plant, he graduated from RADA. He first came to prominence as an actor in the spy series Callan in the early 1970s. He went on to appear as DCI Tom Haggerty in Special Branch alongside George Sewell, and DS Steve Hackett in the police series Target, and featured in one of the last Carry On films, Carry On England. Many television roles have included guest appearances in Jason King, Space 1999, UFO, Minder, and The Sweeney. He was a regular panelist on the murder mystery programme Whodunnit?. He currently stars as Rodney Blackstock in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale.
For seven years Mower was the partner of the actress Suzanne Danielle.[3][4]
@ Will M
and POSSIBLY (failing memory here!) the various M6/M6 Toll/M5 turn-offs. But I suspect I may be wrong :-/
I’ve viewed this advert a few times recently on You-Tube and remember it from when it originally appeared on TV.
Features some quite old cars, designs. At the time, however, all were gaining revisions of some kind and benefitting from the ‘Metro Halo’ effect. As I remember, it was quite an encouraging, upbeat commercial – you could sense that BL was finally stirring and moving in the right direction.
The Ital did look awful with those side graghics though. An HLS in the right colour could look quite appealing, however.
Interesting to see that again. Interesting too to read comments about Triumph Motorcycles which are indeed being made by the truckload in Hinckley Leicestershire. (About 7 miles away from Mallory Park where that advert was filmed!)
I live two roundabouts from the Triumph factory. People I should be talking to, I suspect!
HiltonD:
” In 1992 I worked on a video programme for Triumph Motorbikes built at Hinckley. Not sure who the owner of them is now.”
It’s owned (and has been since the Meriden workers co-op failed in 1983) in it’s entirety by John Bloor, of “Bloor Homes” fame.
A Solihul built TR7 in silver, must be filmed in early 81?
I don’t recall seeing this ad at the time, the range (excepting the Mini and the Ital) look very much of their time.
Sad to think that all that remains now from that ad is MINI and I suppose what is marketed (or not as the case may be) as MG.
Austin, Morris, Rover & Triumph all gone
“Sad to think that all that remains now from that ad is MINI and I suppose what is marketed (or not as the case may be) as MG.”
Yes, though being a pedant, the successors to the Triumph Acclaim are still being made… by Honda.
I’d love a go in one of the TL12 engined Roadtrains!
I have owned most of the cars in that ad,i dont remember having much trouble with them,or,did i just look after them better?
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