Prius Campaign - Early Returns

lol!! wonder how many here are giving the congrats that were also the same ones saying how much they could not stand them... top 2 of 3, not bad, not bad

 

As always thank you for the updates and information Doug.

I did not expect the commercials to be so well received. While I really enjoyed them I am part of that demographic that everyone loves to rail on, I love the Prius and I work in the environmental science field so I was geared to love the commercials.

On a side note, I took a group of 18yr old "kids" out on a tour of one of our nature preserves today and it was interesting to hear their hushed talk about how cool it was that a land manager was driving a Prius into this field (off road) and they definately got a kick out of the tricked out stereo. Seems even youngsters from the wrong side of the tracks like the Prius.

 

Prius Team,

This is a powerful thread,. Thank you for sharing your insider
information with us.

FWIW, here's a post that I wrote back on May 20, in response to a
different thread, but didn't post as I wasn't sure it would get to my
intended audience; you guys and gals.

So, here it is, both barrels, unedited:

I too don't get the new commercials. Maybe it's just that I'm out of
touch with... whom?

I don't get whom is the target audience, airheads, eco-hippies,
Youtube junkies?

OK, I'm older looking at retirement and a fixed income in say five
years -- greatly reduced as of late -- but what is this, a Yellow
Submarine reprise? Or worse yet, The swimming woman, Buster
Crabbe and a cast of hundreds in a pool... the ultimate realization
of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland's "Let's do a play!"... the
standard depression-era warm and fuzzy soporific.
,
I have two kids; daughter, age 33, married 1 child, CPA and securities
analyst. This type of "Everything is beautiful, in it's own way" ad is
meaningless to her. What is the bottom line, what are the alleged
benefits and technological goodies clearly demonstrated.

Son, age 30, unmarried, surveyor -- something in the way of satellite
photo data analyst, outdoors person living in the Appalachians, hiker,
white water canoeist, etc. To him all this gushy "We are the world"
stuff is just a convenient fiction. Out in the world he sees, pollution
laws and other protection measures seem to be more often broken than
enforced. Big companies tear into the earth like carrion eaters,
individuals trash rivers and forests with mindless abandon.

Both my kids bought "new" used cars in the past year. Explorer to
Outback, Tacoma to Vibe. In each case looking for better mileage on a
budget. They are correct in saying that they downsized, actual physical
size. I say they up-sized their MPGs and money not spent.

Are these two 30-somethings typical? I don't know. I do know the
current Prius ad campaign doesn't impress them one whit. Cute? Yes.
Effective? No.

These are but two of the new Prius buyers of the future. You have to
do a whole lot better to reach the market share like them. I'm working
on them, you have to step it up and reach all the others.

One man's opinion.

Rokeby

 

I now realize the brilliance of these memorable ads. The timing couldn't be better because once the gas price goes up, many people will remember that "new Prius" ad with a catchy tune, 50 MPG and the "harmony between man, nature and machine" advertising slogan.

When they research into the Prius, they will go wow and buy it in a heartbeat!

 

Think advertising on TV should carry more than one message, think about this.

Things go better with Coca Cola
The burgers are better at Burger King (Hungry Jacks in Australia)
Zoom zoom
Have you driven a Ford lately?
Football, apple pies, (something patriotic here), and Chevrolet. In Oz it was Football, meat pies, kangaroos, and Holden cars.
Toyota had the "bugga" ad campaign here which hasn't been aired in years but everyone remembers it.

OK, now read the above, add to the list if you like, but tell me the other messages that went with each of these ad themes.

 

I searched for my favorite memorable Prius commercial for the Iconic model. Interestingly, it has the same "The new Prius is here" message. Was the Prius Team behind the Moving Forward ad as well?

 

Whether you "like" the new commercials or not, you have to admit they are MUCH less ANNOYING than most car commercials so people will be less likely to switch channels, and are thus exposed to the item being sold.

 

Now that commercial really rocks!!!!

A lot of subliminal messages in one commercial. It is just as relevant today as when the original commercial was released. Why not take the original footage and substitute a 2010 dressed in Blizzard Pearl and play that on TV?

Keith

 

As a Prius enthusiast I am pleased that the TV commercial was so well liked by such a wide audience. I hope the campaign becomes one of the most memorable, given time.

Here are some of the car commercials that I easily recall with a positive attitude.
"Zoom, Zoom!" -MaZda
"Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet" -jingle played incessantly on the radio during every Cubs game for at least one season
"Oh what a feeling, [jump up and click heels], Toyota!" -fun to imitate

Do any of these say anything specific about the cars' features? (I suppose you could argue "American" is a "feature".) These commercials are good at creating a positive emotional connection with a product that encourages interest and desire. If you want to appeal to a wide audience, make it a generalized feeling and play it all over, frequently. If you want to appeal to a specific group of people, narrow the focus of the commercial to a specific feature and play it to target audiences. It makes sense to give consumers good vibes about a product, then use a variety of specific ads to attract the various groups that place a different value on each of the features. I think the initial Harmony commercial is attempting to appeal to the wider audience first, priming them for the more feature specific commercials that are being released in the series.

By the way, I wonder which demographic group thinks the the Harmony ads appeal only to women over 60? I've polled my teen age students and both male and female students between the ages of 13 and 16 liked them.

KUDOS to Doug and the team! I continue to look forward to future releases in the series. Will there be one that places high emphasis on safety features? That's a high priority for the women that I know are over 60.

 

ah ya, i loved that commercial especially the play on the "Neil Armstrong moon walk" quote...

but i kinda laughed at the line "its finally here" especially since i had been driving my Tidelands for 8 months. what they should have said is "we have finally increased production enough to reduce the wait times to less than 2 months"

 

Referring back to the original post in this thread, I found it entertaining that in order to watch the Prius ad that came top in the poll you actually have to view another ad first. I guess it isn't called Advertising Age for nothing.

 

If this ad had been done using computer-generated images in a Busby Berkeley style, with lots of geometric patterns - Priuses rotating like flower petals, etc, I would have liked it. That would have been both high tech and artistic. I do not like using real people in green leotards. That just says muchkinland to me. Even if the real people had been used to generated Berkeley-type patterns, that would have been better. I really dislike people forming human pyramids. To me, it says "cluttered" and "amateurish".

 

Well, one thing for sure. You made the Bellamy Brothers VERY happy!

Nice ad!

Dan

 

No no no! Not THAT vid! THIS one!

ps. I honestly believe twenty years from now you'll still be able to find the 2010 Prius ads on the internet somewhere. That is to say, they'll withstand the test of time.

 

"they'll withstand the test of time"

I've forgotten them already.

 

As my zoology professor was fond of saying, "the memory is always the second thing to go.". Good thing there are all kinds of meds available for ya mate. lol

 

LOL! Yeah - the 70's were the bottom of the fashion barrel and close to the bottom of the music barrel too! Holy cow. They play acoustic guitars - remember those?

 

As much as I like the Bellamy Brothers, that was a horrible video. The way the lip synced and didn't even attempt to play the non-chord parts of the song. They just kept strumming even during the guitar picking parts. lol