Category: Television
Toyota is Everywhere
With all the negativity surrounding Toyota and their recalls, their advertising efforts have not slowed down their pace in the slightest. Combining their Restore ads with their The Sienna Family campaign, they seem to be reaching in all directions to help restore faith in the Toyota name. While its been said that their advertising agency has strongly recommend against the advertising push, others aren’t surprised in the slightest by their decision. Reacting to the recalls, Toyota released their restoration campaign that not only reflects their sincerest apologies for their mistakes, but touches on what they’re doing to change them, and of course Moving Forward. Then in recent months, they seem to be trying to pull some comedy and laughter out of the ashes with their The Sienna Family campaign featuring hip quirky parents with two kids and their swagger wagon.
Is the campaign doing any good? Quite a few are saying, absolutely not. What do you think? Is the comedy relief really bringing Toyota any relief to their recalls with the Sienna or any other vehicle? Are these commercials, or any of the other YouTube videos changing your perspective of Toyota and helping you forget?
Super Bowl Crash Party
Today Doritos revealed the 6 finalists that they have selected from more than 4,000 :30 self-made video entries in the 4th Annual Doritos “Crash the Super Bowl” challenge. This year, both the stakes and prizes are bigger and better then ever before. Already, each of the six finalists have won $25,000 and a trip to South Florida to attend Super Bowl XLIV where they will tune in to learn which ads were chosen to air worldwide. As for the winning contestants, not only will their self-made Doritos commercials air during the Super Bowl XLIV broadcast, they will also have the chance to compete amongst the pros for the top 3 spots in USA TODAY‘s annual Ad Meter. And if it can’t get any better - Doritos will give the winners a shared $5 million cash bonus prize if the homemade ads claim the top three spots.
Having one of last year’s videos make the #1 spot of USA TODAY‘s Ad Meter, the bar has been raised for creativity and quality submissions - and according to Vice Presdent of Frito-Lay, Rudy Wilson, those expectations have been met. “Every year, we continue to be impressed with the talent our fans bring to the table. This year, however, Crash the Super Bowl achieved a new level of success with more than 4,000 entries coming from an incredibly wide range of ages, backgrounds and geographies, including entries with actual celebrities in them. This kind of mainstream involvement and excitement is something we never predicted, and we couldn’t be more excited about it.”
Now its up to you Doritos fans nationwide to select the 3 homemade ads you want to see aired during the Super Bowl XLIV broadcast. Voting is open online at www.crashthesuperbowl.com today through January 31, 2010. Good luck to all 6 contestants.
Taco Bell Diet?
Subway had enormous success with the release of their diet-branded campaign promoting healthy alternatives with spokesperson Jared - who really did drop all those pounds by eating the low fat subs daily over a long period of time. So how serious is Taco Bell really being with their new campaign for the Drive-Thru Diet?
In comparison, the campaign follows the same overall strategy of a diet-branded campaign, by having a spokesperson, Christine Dougherty, claiming to have lost 54 pounds over 2 years by eating off of Taco Bell’s Fresco Menu. But what separates this campaign from that of Subway, is that Taco Bell’s entire campaign holds a strong sense of parody to it. Their online website includes infomercials of her story and uses language that doesn’t exactly suggest credibility. The question being asked when the spokesperson claims that she wanted to diet but, “didn’t want to cut out my fast food” is - Pardon me, can you repeat that? That’s like saying, “I want to quit drinking, but don’t want to cut out my brandy,” or even, “I want to save money, but don’t want to cut out my shopping.”
While some nutritionist are up in arms over this campaign and how it is having an effect on the nation, which is definitely something to consider, I have a feeling most consumers are reading into the suggestive parody and laughing along. Fast food restaurants have been trying to keep up with the trends of offering healthier alternatives these past years, and while the angle is somewhat questionable, the Fresco Menu is currently all Taco Bell has to offer consumers looking for something healthier.
What do you think of the new campaign?
Top 10’s of 2009
As the year comes to a close, we all like to take a moment to look back and reflect on the year’s accomplishments, tragedies and laughter-filled moments. Every year, TIME does a great job at racking up the best Top 10 Lists of all those moments that made a big impact on us and the world around us. Here are just 2 examples of what TIME comprised this year:
Top 10 TV Ads
1. Evian Roller Babies
2. Hulu
3. Coca-Cola
Top 10 Viral Videos
1. Susan Boyle
2. Kevin Heinz and Jill Peterson’s Wedding Entrance
3. David After the Dentist
Take an even closer look at some of the other Top 10 lists of 2009: Tweets, Apologies, iPhone Apps, Medical Breakthroughs, Scandals, Awkward Moments or Facebook Stories.
On behalf of everyone here at Johnson Gray, we’d like to wish you all a great New Year. May you take a moment to comprise your own lists, and may they be just as fun and laughter-filled as those TIME has helped us remember.
The Greater 3G Experience
AT&T’s response Side-by-Side ad ran conveniently at the sound of their lawsuit failure. Their request to have Verizon pull their 3G comparison ads was denied and at the turn of their heels the below ad with trustworthy actor Luke Wilson ran. Now, the new ad may have some truth in the sense that, AT&T may have the “fastest” 3G network, the network may be more efficient at allowing users to “talk and surf at the same time”, they clearly have the most popular smartphones (no brainer, the iPhone), and access to over 100,000 apps (again, the iPhone). But honestly, does any of that matter if you’re someone who lives outside of those 3G available areas? I think not. So while yes, AT&T has the iPhone and therefore the most apps and Apple technology, it still does not have the best 3G coverage.
Verizon Goes Stealth
This week Verizon adds to it’s hype-worthy campaign for the new Droid smartphone. Having previously released it’s iPhone spoof TV spots running anti-iPhone copy, “iDon’t have a real keyboard. iDon’t run simultaneous apps. iDon’t take 5-megapixel pictures. iDon’t customize,” basically everything the iPhone doesn’t, the Droid does. This ad peaked a lot of curiosity over this new device, and this weeks new ad merits even more viral attention. Strategically running during Game 6 of the World Series, the male-targeted ad was equipped with stealth bombers releasing missile-like packages down to the ground below. Out from the meteor-size craters the black package reveals the new Droid smartphone followed by intriguing copy “Drop Date 11.06.09.” With Verizon’s big finale, in less than 7 hours and counting, the Droid will make its highly anticipated debut on the market - literally. Verizon will be opening its 34th Street Communications Store at 12 AM on 11.06.09 for a special 2-hours sale allowing lucky New Yorkers to become the first in the nation to purchase the new Android smartphones. Will the phone backup the highly creative campaign? Time will tell.
HTC Teaser Campaign Unveiled
These mysterious outdoor ads have recently been popping up with nothing but the word “YOU” in various fonts. Passing by, people have no clue what product or company these ads have been promoting. Well now the mystery is over - these teaser ads were the kick off to a new campaign for HTC, a company nearly no one has ever heard of. This Taiwanese company has manufactured nearly all the Android handsets in the U.S, and yet they’ve simply sat back letting carriers rebrand the famous handsets as their own. But all that’s about to change with the Quietly Brilliant campaign that is stepping into the spotlight throughout the week Here are some of the new campaign elements:
DirecTV: Awakens the Dead
DirecTV‘s latest commercials featuring celebrities breaking character from their famous scenes to promote their TV services have been favorites amongst collective crowds. However, the verdict is still out on whether the ads featuring celebrities that have died are just as creative as the rest of them… or if they are just plain creepy.
The ads running with scenes from Poltergeist and Tommy Boy feature actors that have passed - Heather O’Rourke whom died tragically at a very young age of 12, and Chris Farley whom died of a drug overdose in ‘97. It’s hard to decide where the creepy factor is coming from. Is it simply due to both actors having passed away - and under unfortunate circumstances? Or is it the uncomfortable feeling of watching the actors that once did that scene, and has now agreed to remake it to sell TV services? Whatever the reasoning, people are turned off and not very happy with the once cool DirecTV commercials.
No More Blaring Commercials
SRS Labs is bringing TV audiences a new product, TruVolume that will level out all volume differences between those commercials that blare out double the volume, and the regular programming they’re watching.
This volume control solution is not the first device put out there, but SRS claims that their technology surpasses those companies that have come before them - Audyssey and Dolby. While TruVolume uses the same science as it’s competitors to keep the volume at an enjoyable level, it continuously analyzes the frequency bands, preventing any negative altering to the quality of the sound that usual level controllers can cause.
With the success SRS has accomplished with TruVolume, having already made its way into mass-market products including several new high-end Samsung and Vizio TVs, we can expect it won’t be long before it resides in all future television sets.