“Ah, this is obviously some strange usage of the word ‘safe’ that I wasn’t previously aware of.”~Douglas Adams
Car-buyers are very smart.
Car companies think we’re stupid.
One of them can pull it off.
As outlined by Wikipedia, “From November 2009 through the first quarter of 2010, Toyota recalled more than 8 million (accounts differ) cars and trucks worldwide in several recall campaigns, and briefly halted production and sales.”
Toyota tanked. Their ad campaigns for weeks centered around reassuring the public and reminding us that Toyota had a long, stable history of safety. Indeed Toyota had been one of the most trusted brand of cars until the recall mess.
And then Toyota did 2 critical things:
- Had a sale on their cars.
- And laid low for a few months.
Recently Toyota came back into the ad world with smiles and stealth. “Safety. safety. safety. And in case you didn’t see (or hear) it, Safety.”
Do you feel SAFE yet? I'd still buy one. Mistakes happen.
The red words SAFETY move across the screen alongside faces of happy families who are looking for, you guessed it – SAFETY. And in this commercial they are SAFE, and satisfied.
It is not until 3/4 of the way through the commercial that the brand of this bastion of safety is placed on the screen: Toyota. And if you buy a Toyota, your family will be safe.
Do you give Toyota a pass? It’s ad campaign hopes you do and they may have pulled it off with a direct, pinpointed, no more apologies message that shows that they are back and they mean safety.
Their brand will bounce back because they can back their claims.
Punch BUG, people.
Volkswagen is a strong brand too and appeals to some of the same customers who buy Toyota.
Volkswagen has been running a campaign for a few months that could (and probably should) bother the 30-45 year old age set.
A VW drives by (or in the most recent version of the campaign, zooms by) and someone turns to punch a friend, “black one.”
Herbie Yellow! I've always liked VW, now I just feel like a lemming when I watch their commercials.
Um, no. Unless it was just a Texas thing, where I am writing from, we did not punch our friends whenever we saw ANY VW car. It had to be a Volkswagen Bug A.K.A Herbie.
In no version of the game was there a punch for a Jetta or a VW Van or Passat. It was either:
Punch bug! or Herbie blue! or blue Bug!
In the recent commercials they want us to pretend that any old VW will do.
Volkswagen: Caution [Achtung, Baby]!
You cannot pull a Jedi Mind trick and try to alter the perception of childhood experiences in an entire generation of people who can now afford to buy your product.
We will not now nor have we ever seen a Jetta drive by and say, “black one!”
You might hear it if a VW Bug drives by and in our house it would be “Herbie green!” (we weren’t allowed to punch.)
Dear reader, writer, marketing professional, blogger, ad man are you stupid?
I’m not.
Changing perceptions is one thing, trying to alter them or worse, rewrite shared experience is just, well – a mistake.
Trust your customers. Respect them. Change perceptions wherever you can (especially if you have corrected a mistake and can back up your claims). Never pretend that they don’t know their own minds.