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Travellers to mainland Europe will, from next week, be able to

experience one of the most unmissable marketing campaigns of recent

history.

The launch campaign for euro notes and coins is of such inordinate scale

that it will be impossible for any ordinary European to avoid. This is a

good thing, as the creative concept itself is entirely unmemorable.

Of course, the advertising for a new European currency was never going

to be anything other than pan-European in nature. But there is at least

one group of sceptics that will be delighted by the end result: those in

the creative community that believe pan-European campaigns are

uninspired and uninspiring.

To start with there are two 30-second ads showing notes and coins flying

over European landmarks, then landing and appearing in the hands of

citizens whose immediate and pressing concerns we can only presume were

the built-in security features. Four follow-up TV ads feature various

denominations in use by individuals including a cutesy kid buying apples

from a farmer and a group of young people at a dodgy Euro-disco. Even

the endline, 'The Euro. Our Money.', smacks of advertising by

committee.

What went wrong? It would be hard to point the finger at Publicis when

there is such an obviously 'difficult' client as the European Central

Bank (ECB) behind the campaign. The ECB exists to ensure the stability

of the euro on the financial markets. It is still trying to gain the

trust of 12 national banks and it is modelled on the secretive

Bundesbank.

In short, 'selling' is not what it does best. It's hard to imagine the

spokesman of any commercial organisation, no matter how powerful,

saying: "Our campaign doesn't need to change minds, as the introduction

of the euro is inevitable."

Product-driven it may be, but this campaign has missed the prime

opportunity before it has even begun. The launch of any product is the

best time to build anticipation and excitement about its arrival. Yet

this particular buck is being passed to the 12 national governments

within the eurozone. We can expect a cacophony of ad messages.

The real triumph for Publicis will be pulling off a truly massive

integrated and international campaign. The TV ads are expected to be

seen by 90% of Europeans, while a 170 million mailshot, press ads,

posters and information through commercial partnerships will reach an

eventual total of 300 million people by the time the euro becomes legal

tender on January 1.

In such a short space of time, the media exercise, at least, will be an

impressive one. Publicis must hope that its belief "if you give the

campaign a certain scale, people will learn" is accurate. Creatively,

the ECB does not look like a safe pair of hands for an 80m euro (£50m) marketing budget.