Bagged a 30 sec Prius commercial tonight - if anyone wants it I put it on my website: http://www.senkou.com/temp/prius-1.wmv Requires windows media to playback. You may have to right-click and save - not sure if it will stream from my system. Dave.
This is a good ad. I like it. It would seem to me that Toyota must be expecting the results of their increased Prius production to start yielding increased availability soon. I certainly can't see them spending the money for ads like this unless they're expecting product to be available for those who would respond.
It's funny, when I first saw that ad, the first thing that came to mind was "John 1701" must've had something to do with it Dave.
And the title is: PRIUS: THE BLACK HOLE / UNIVERS[AL] SUCKER right? Confusing message, overall. OVERLY pathetic wrapping of the "Car of the year" stuff. Another example of "Great product, shameful marketing (and distribution)".
I saw a print ad in the Smithsonian magazine recently but have seen very little other advertising to date. (Don't stimulate demand if you can't provide the product.) Once they can get the cars out to the dealers, I think the ads will show up. Also, I have heard there will be hybrid synergy drives in other Toyota models, and some American manufacturers are going to start using the technology too. It is an idea whose time has come. IMHO Ellen
I'm kinda with boa8 here - we know it's a much bigger thing - but we kinda don't know why based on the commercial. No mention of mileage, no mention of cleaner emissions - just that the car seems big enough to hold the universe inside. Don't they use focus groups? I know they do for their brochures - I attended one for the Matrix to determine how well we might accept the brochure and the concept of the E-brochure at the time (I had just recently gotten my '02 Prius then). This was a couple of months before the actual release of the Matrix. -Rick
The only place I've seen print ads for the Prius is The New Yorker -- most of them being along the lines of what you see on the Toyota web site. They seem to consistently get printed there -- often the back cover, 2 or 3 times double-page ads. Since it's the one magazine I subscribe to, I guess they've got some of their customer modelling on-target.
Commercials like this do lead one to think that the marketing department didn't know how to sell the product, when the commercial was made. The most common place I see this, I think, is in movie trailers where they just don't know who their audience is, or how to sell the film. (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is the most recent one that comes to mind.) However, given the gigantic demand for the car, the reviews, and the massive amounts of discussion about it, you would think that NOW they could get a firm handle on their potential customer base, and the best way to promote the product. Maybe we'll see commercials in a few months that are much more on-target.
I see print ads in quite a few publications, Scientific American has one each month. Also, NPR regularly has Prius Ads (oops...sponsorship messages).
First of all, thank you very much for posting the commercial. Is it from Canadian TV? I wonder if it's for Canada only? Secondly, how pathetic. They made the car look retarded and for an exclusive group of people. Perhaps to be the car in Men In Black 3, since it holds the universe inside of it. They didn't show a mom taking the kids to soccer practice in it, or a group of college kids going on a roadtrip and talking about how cheap it is to take on a trip because of the MPG. SOMETHING TO MAKE IT LOOK LIKE COMMON PEOPLE DRIVE HYBRIDS. But no, instead we get Jeff Goldblum telling us that apparently the Prius and hybrid technology in general is just like a Mac, made for a specific customer in mind. Hello, Toyota Marketing, anybody there?
OK, makes more sense to me now. Still, people who made this video clip doesn't have a clue about product they advertise. Which is as minimum, unprofessional.
It was on the Canadian feed of TLC. Just happened to stumble across it the other night. It wasn't how I'd do a commercial - it was a little too flashy and sci-fi to appeal to the average consumer. At the risk of offending John, I'd say it was a bit too "trekkie" for my liking Dave.
> At the risk of offending John, I'd say it was a bit too "trekkie" for my liking No offense... especially since I witness the other extreme a lot... when someone does something "treker" and doesn't even realize they did it. By the way, I managed to get a digital capture the "universe" commercial too. The other one, "black & white dots", keeps eluding me though.
agreement with everyone who didn't like the ad........ ukeright: (rant) they should have gotten more, different, or better focus groups to review it, if they got any at all.... sorry, gang, but i was in Marketing for a decade or two before retiring, and the problem here isn't Marketing, it's the advertising people not talking to the Marketing people, but that's normal. the ad folks are typically born bright and creative, and know for sure that nobody else in the Corporation is as bright and creative as they are, and, therefore, are genetically incapable of listening to them! the commercial might imply the interior size of the car (big enough for the whole universe?) or a "bigger concept" than "just a car", but gawd, i don't like how they did it! i'm available for consulting, if anyone at Toyota gives a patoot. (/rant) still a pretty car, too..... (and maybe i'm torqued because it's only been three months and my dealer never calls me to let me know any good or bad news. oops... (/rant)
yep, when i checked it out, at first i was elated to see it, then when it ended... that's it!?! :guns: it's like their only selling point was that it's roomy and got the COTY award... ukeleft:
