Car Commercials, the good, the bad, and the annoying!

british_rover

The people that made that comercial probably don't even know an Acclaim is FWD.. :sick:

fintail

I think such ads when repeated endlessly give the brand an air of desperation. It's an equity killer.

Strange I notice no such ad for Hyundai.

Kirstie_H

Speaking of...

Chat tonight with Ian Beavis, VP of Marketing for Kia Motors America.
Join us 6-7pm PT, 9-10pm ET and bring some good questions!

british_rover

Haaaaveee too ooo refrain frrommm making bad Mike Judge Cartoon referance... Must control joke urge :P

Kirstie_H

I know... the temptation is clear. Just, like, eat a sandwich or something.

fintail

Stupid Kia commercial is still airing 100x per day. Whoever came up with that one needs to be shot.

gekko16

They're not exactly off by a factor of 10, it's more like three. Using the equation t=sqrt(2H/g), the time to fall 400 feet is 4.98s and the time to fall 4000 feet is 15.76s. Further applying this, the car on the ground would need to be traveling at 174 mph, the whole time, or else it gets crush.

What most upsets me about this commercial as a physicist is the lack of a giant explosion. :mad:

british_rover

Personally I wish all commercials had explosions in them. :P

derrado1

There's a disturbing ad down here for the Kia range which features a guy driving into a drive-thru which has a large picture board of Kias, and he orders a "Kia Cerato Happy Meal". Cue the normal sales and pricing talk. Not too annoying, but I just find the concept a bit... unsettling.

Then there were the poorly dubbed "Wake up!" Kia ads where a guy would wake up people with buckets of water or air horns and talk about the benefits of buying a Kia.... Yeah, Kia doesn't have the best luck with ads.

fintail

Wow, those sound pitiful...looks like they use similar ad agencies.

I am hoping for a nice new round of MB ads soon

tallman1

Argh... The Kia Sound of Music and the Rock 'em Sock 'em robots were bad enough... especially since they play them over and over and over.

Now the Jeep Compass ad with the robot made up of scrap metal that "skateboards" on the Jeep is killing me.

I can't wait for the Super Bowl!!!

ateixeira

I hate the ads where kayaks are on top of the vehicle and it looks a bit like a bug. Cute idea, but they just take it way too far, and it comes off stupid.

-juice

kyfdx

...this is their whole campaign? Riding on the edges of buildings?

Kirstie_H

That's pretty cool if it's an accurate representation of the car's abilities. However, I'm not sure how you get it up there to start with.

tallman1

yeah... and they don't show how it crosses streets either. Do you think this is trick photography?

Kirstie_H

No one's foolin' me, especially not a photographer

PF_Flyer

But could the Edge ad be more effective if they had someone driving it tilted up on two wheels like they used to do in the Joey Chitwood stunt shows?

I mean, you might have to think twice about whether that was real or CGI

fintail

This is pretty cool

And it's even a non-airbag example. These are just awesome cars.

british_rover

Wow that is a nasty crash.

ateixeira

Pretty convincing argument. I bet there would have been fatalities in many other cars.

-juice

explorerx4

that was a good commercial. i need to know the what the other vehicle was and the weather conditions. it seems all of the occupants were wearing their seatbelts.

fintail

Yeah, I know no other details though.

I know the car is a 1986-88 model, so it was assumedly an older car when this happened too, as the commercial itself looks newer.

lemko

...but a recruiting ad for the Army where a soldier uses a robot to set off a charge to safely detonate a bomb in the back seat of what appears to be a beige 1982 Ford LTD Crown Victoria.

ateixeira

Just saw the Kiafest ads for the first time and HOLY COW ARE THOSE BAD!

Annoying as nails on a chalkboard.

I was going to buy a Kia Sedona and they just talked me out of it.

-juice

explorerx4

sorry, it just brought back some bad memories.
would it have been better if after they showed the family, they then get into their new merc and drive off?
that would be the hollywood ending.

eaorourke214

Okay people, you love foreign cars, but cannot handle languages other than the one you were raised with. Some people need to let go of their privilege just a little bit. Subtitles or not, a commercial's (or movie's) validity does not come from the language chosen, but the image and feeling it projects and produces. I mean, do you need to speak En :surprise: glish to get Zoom Zoom Zoom, or Fahrvergnugen???

tallman1

Okay, I thought the Super Bowl ads were kinda cool... The teeter-totter ramp, the closing door/edge of cliff. But for crying out loud... aren't these a bit overdone now? I must blow through tons of these every time I'm fast-forwarding DVR.

PF_Flyer

What's amazing is that they actually have to put a disclaimer in on ad like the one for the Edge where it's driving on two wheels on a ledge on a buidling :sick:

Yea... Do Not Try This

thenebean

can't stand the kia rondo commercials, with the stupid rainbows and the choir singing "let the sun shine....let the sun shine in!"

yuck!

ateixeira

Agreed, it's a case where the ads are so tacky it actually makes me shy away from the cars. Noone wants to be associated with the dorks in those ads.

-juice

lemko

...I saw a television commercial for the Dodge Avenger where three cars are on dynos and a lab coated technician starts playing "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple by revving each of the three cars' engines.

loncray

Has anybody bothered to think about the use of "American Pie" to sell Chevrolets? You'd think a song about a plane crash would not be appropriate to automobile sales - esp. one with the line "This will be the day that I die" in it. I know it doesn't make ME want to go out and buy a Chevy. Even the line they keep in the commercial: "Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry" sounds like they're referring to a drought.

ateixeira

I don't think about the meaning of the song, and probably few people do.

I think the whole campaign is about Chevy as an American icon, a classic that has stood the test of time, enough so that popular songs have mentioned them for ages.

I've seen a similar Mercedes spot.

-juice

fintail

ANOTHER dumb Kia ad...surprise surprise

I don't like the "Rondo" name either.

ateixeira

Sounds like "round", especially to me since I also speak Portuguese and we say "redondo".

-juice

fezo

You no doubt have seen the Hummer2 ad where the guy drives it off the end of a pier and the wheels turn into propellers and off he goes. Of course just as he is driving into the water it says "Do Not Try This." Dang!

explorerx4

that is a variation on ford's 'star spangled banner' commercial.

i_luv_toyota

"I don't like the "Rondo" name either."

Amen. The people that name cars at Kia must've been on something when they came up with that name.

xcargrl

Ritter takes helm of Toyota's U.S. ad agency

Mark Rechtin | Automotive News / March 20, 2007 - 4:28 pm


LOS ANGELES -- Toyota's U.S. advertising agency is seeing a change in the executive suite.

David Murphy -- president of the Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles office, is leaving the agency to start his own firm. The Los Angeles office oversees the Toyota account.

Taking Murphy's place is Kurt Ritter, former marketing general manager of General Motors' Chevrolet division. Ritter left GM in 2003.

Ritter's title will be CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles.

When Ritter left GM, he was set to oversee the Toyota account for Saatchi. But when GM accused Saatchi's holding company, Publicis Groupe, of poaching Ritter -- and unsubtly threatened to divert GM business from Publicis' other agencies -- Ritter's role was changed to that of an off-site consultant.

For the past four years, Ritter technically has not been a Saatchi employee. But his consulting firm, Against All Odds, had only Saatchi as a client. Ritter also was on Saatchi's worldwide executive board -- the only nonemployee on the board.

Ritter, 57, brings extensive truck marketing experience to Saatchi at a time when Toyota is feverishly launching its full-sized Tundra pickup. While at Chevrolet, Ritter orchestrated the successful "Like A Rock" marketing campaign.

Ritter was unavailable for comment.

You may e-mail Mark Rechtin at mrechtin@crain.com

andys120

So what? Why should any of us care who is running the Tundra ad campaign?

So far the only thing extraordinary about it is the incredible amount of cash $$$ they are throwing at it.
You don't have to be a marketing genius when you have unlimited tonnage.

No doubt this was posted by a shill from Saatchi and Saatchi or 'Yoda's PR firm. Let's take it down and save on bandwidth.

gagrice

They will need to spend a ton on advertising. The truck is UGLY!!!

geo9

Whomever staged and/or approved the final see-saw
commercial for the new tundra should be fired.

Check it out and notice all the Fords and Chevys in the
background shots that must belong to the cast and crew.

I guess it shows what REAL construction folks buy for a
truck!

http://www.toyota.com/vehicles/minisite/commercial/tundra_tv1.html

Kirstie_H

Probably is a shill, but in any case it didn't deserve its own separate discussion

xcargrl

I had to look up the meaning of "shill"...never heard the word before. My take on the Automotive News article is that Toyota probably started stealing truck marketing talent from GM years ago, and in this case exactly 4 years ago, because they are ruthlessly going after that segment. It blows me away Toyota is spending billions on marketing, advertising, and incentives to dealers on the new Tundra yet saying they are not trying to take away sales from GM and Ford. Maybe the new Tundra is a good truck but it seems to me Toyota is really buying their way into the US full size truck market and talking out of the other side of their mouth about being such a green company. Something is wrong with the picture. :confuse:

anythngbutgm

Maybe the new Tundra is a good truck but it seems to me Toyota is really buying their way into the US full size truck market

So basically Toyota shouldn't be allowed to compete in the truck market :confuse:

...talking out of the other side of their mouth about being such a green company

How many gas guzzling full size trucks/SUV's does Toyota have in their entire stable? I can count 5 (Sequoia, Tundra, GX470, Land Cruiser, LX470)...

Lesse, how many does GM have?

Suburban
Yukon
Yukon XL
Tahoe
Escalade
Escalade ESV
Escalade EXT
Avalanche
Silverado line
Sierra line

and America's epitome of gluttony, HUMMER, the brand dedicated to consuming as much gas as possible...

How many does Ford have? Dodge?

Sorry, it appears you are new here so I apologize if I come off a bit gruff but there is so much negative comments and anti-Toyota propoganda being spread through out the Edmunds forums and those comments just don't hold water.

Take care, and no offense implied.

xcargrl

So basically Toyota shouldn't be allowed to compete in the truck market...

I'm not saying they shouldn't compete. Toyota will compete and the auto industry is all the better for it; they are extremely competitive regardless of what is communicated in the press about not going after the #1 slot. BUT, their execs are also constantly talking about the company's contributions to society and minimizing their footprint on the environment. So to make a corporate decision to build the new Tundra in the US counters the image they try to portray--in my opinion.

How many gas guzzling full size trucks/SUV's does Toyota have in their entire stable? I can count 5 (Sequoia, Tundra, GX470, Land Cruiser, LX470)... ...

And they should stick with that number. And as far as GM, Ford and DCX is concerned, it's obscene how many gas guzzlers they have in their fleets. I agree, the Hummer is the epitomy--it should be given back to the military.

Sorry, it appears you are new here..

I guess I hold Toyota to a higher standard due to their track record. Yes, I am new to this site but not new to the earth.

gagrice

You were kidding with this statement, Right?

there is so much negative comments and anti-Toyota propaganda being spread through out the Edmunds forums

I see 10 anti-GM statements in my viewing of Edmund's to every negative against Toyota. Same goes for propaganda spread by companies like Consumer Reports.

It does seem strange that Toyota would build a huge new factory to assemble 250,000 Tundra trucks this year and no assembly plants for the vehicle that has falsely given them a green image, the PRIUS. At least Honda can hold up their head when they say they are a green company. Same cannot be said of Toyota.

For those that get sucked into believing the Toyota advertising, I say go for it. Don't cry on Edmund's 10 years from now when the truck has fallen apart. Most major environmentalist groups are not buying the green image Toyota would like to portray in their phony ads.

PS
I have been on Edmund's since the beginning and I realize I am one of the few voices that are not buying into the Toyota ad hype.

ateixeira

I think the reason Toyota gets that scrutiny is that they keep hoping they're not blamed for Chrysler's misfortunes, or for hurting GM or Ford.

They should just keep their mouth shut about that. For the most part they (and other competitors) ARE to blame for the drop in Big Three market share.

"So what" is right, but Toyota should not talk about it. Their CEO has gone as far as saying he would reduce incentives so as not to hurt domestic car makers, yet the incentives never actually dropped.

Just SHUT UP about it, already.

Toyota's CEO has a duty to their share holders to maximize profit any way they can, and if it means intentionally burying weaker competitors then it is their DUTY to try to do exactly that.

I get miffed that they pretend they're not. :mad:

Kirstie_H

As much as we'd all enjoy reading about Toyota vs GM in the 67th discussion this week, let's stick to the commercials (see discussion title above for reference) in this discussion.

ateixeira

Sorry Kirstie. I haven't been in those other threads so that's as much as I'll rant on that topic.