Mindshape » Advertising

Toyota‘s Viral Campaign Crashes

David Brown — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:37:10 +0000

In an effort to garner attention for the Matrix brand, Toyota and their ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi L.A. let loose a viral campaign that was intended to target an already ad adverse demographic. In March 2008, an unsuspecting L.A. resident, Amber Duick, received an email from a complete stranger named Sebastian Bowler who seemed to know her. The email read “Amber mate! Coming 2 Los Angeles Gonna lay low at your place for a bit. Till it all blows over. Bringing Trigger.” At first Amber might have assumed this was junk mail and ignored it, however as a single women living in L.A. she may have become increasingly concerned when she received a second email that included her home address with a photo of the alleged Sebastian.

What Amber didn’t know was that she was the target of a prank viral advertising campaign. Perhaps this is where marketing crosses that fine line between targeted and invasive. Traditional targeted campaigns could leverage consumer insights and psychographic data to speak one-to-one with a consumer. Today, agencies and large consumer brands are struggling to gain the attention of people who simply avoid advertisements. In fact Toyota’s own research proved that males under 35 do not respond to advertising and are contemptuous of brands that try to mask the ordinary with a youthful edge.

As the campaign went on, Amber was subjected to further emails from her virtual stalker with links to his MySpace page that described him as a 25-year-old soccer hooligan from England who enjoyed drinking to excess. After several weeks Amber received her final email that informed her it was all in jest and she was simply a target (victim) of a virtual punking campaign by Toyota.

If you thought Toyota had problems with their brakes a few years ago, they now have bigger issues as the campaign came crashing down when this week a California court approved her $10-million (U.S.) legal proceedings against Toyota and Saatchi & Saatchi L.A., for intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, false advertising and other acts.

The internet is a great mass medium, but it shouldn’t be used to misrepresent brands or invade unsuspecting consumers with misleading messages. Let this be a lesson for clients and agencies looking to experiment with online marketing, think it through before starting the online engine.

When Brands Reach Utopia

David Brown — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 22:34:00 +0000

Many have commented on the Starbucks brand refresh, not to be mistaken for a new brand design, more a simplification of the iconic Siren logo that has become synonymous with gourmet coffee the world over. Having worked on hundreds of brand identity designs in my career I can say from experience, trying to rationalize the intrinsic ethos of a graphic mark that represents a multi-million dollar corporation would challenge even the most seasoned creative director. So at first, l was less than impressed with Starbucks’ in-house creative team and their understated rationale – bringing the Siren out of the ring and making her the star. However we don’t have to look far to see how de-cluttering a brand can simplify neuro responses, just look at the brand equity in such simple icons as Apple or Nike. In fact the more I consider the implied brand risk the more I can appreciate why CEO Howard Schultz has spoken out about being a coffee company that will have other products with the Starbucks name but may be void of coffee. Something is brewing over at Starbucks and it sniffs of brand extension beyond the white cup. I wouldn’t be surprised if we start to see clothing, sporting equipment or perhaps luxury resorts – don’t laugh, just look at the CuisinArt Resort. For now, free the Siren, let her swim in unchartered waters and we’ll see where she comes ashore, perhaps it will be utopia!

Who can you count on?

Paul Curwen — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:22:21 +0000

You may have heard some of the fallout recently over a new advertising campaign from Mr. Sub. Dubbed “not everyone likes surprises,” these spots place an adult male in a ‘surprising’ situation followed by the suggestion that you can “count on Mr.Sub.” For what, we’re not sure. Mercifully pulled due to public response, one execution features a middle-aged man announcing, over dinner to his very large family, that he is gay. Super, super gay to be more precise. The revelation is answered with dumbfounded silence from the aforementioned family; a response that I suspect was mirrored by every Canadian who had the misfortune to see it. The negative response from the lesbian and gay community is not surprising. That the other spots in this campaign are still running is.

I’ll spare you the usual marketing-babble; and just say this: these spots are wretched. Rather than prompt a laugh, which I can only assume was the intent, each version elicits a feeling of acute embarrassment and awkwardness that surely no company would want to be associated with. Even the hockey/commodity beer/Megan Fox loving set, who are used to being bombarded with insipid ads, must be furrowing their collective, and purported low, brow at this lazy attempt. Kudos to the bods at Mr.Sub for pulling one spot, whatever their reasons. Let’s hope we really can count on them to drop the whole lot and spare us any further embarrassment.