The cheap television blogging team are familiar with watching nonsensical and terribly poor television commercials from middle of the road companies with advertising budgets barely bigger than a 1 bedroom studio flat in London. Toyota, a company with a massive big fat Gypsy wedding dress of a television marketing budget seems to have been misguided or just plain stupid with their new rap inspired Gadget Guy television adverts for the little Yaris.
Watching the current swathe of television commercials for the premium German brands BMW, Mercades and Audi they enhance the ideals the viewer has of the brands. Quality, performance, new technology and style with such ease. Using all that is good with visual and audio stimulation.
Even the none premium car brands that Toyota are competing with are producing television commercials that really sell their products in what is undeniably a difficult and strained market right now. The Renault TV commercial with clips from old movies just oozes style. VW carries on a long tradition of simple, informative and clever advertising to push the message of build quality and reliability. Ford showers us with new technology and performance. All of the above use stylish imagery and excellent music both of which have become the staple of purposeful and solid television commercial in recent times. All the advertising agencies involved in the above adverts should be commended. The same can’t be said for the advertising agency and Toyota advertising executives that signed off the money for the Toyota Yaris Gadget Guy adverts.
The selling points that I believe Toyota as a brand has built up over the years are build quality and reliability. Considering they are the biggest car manufacture in the world these two main selling points haven’t done them bad so far. So why not stick with what works?
Obviously the idea behind the Toyota Yaris Gadget Guy TV commercial is to help encourage the Toyota brand appeal to a younger audience, however I fear it has failed completely. The advertising agency involved seem to have deduced that young people (around 5 years old) like cartoons and that young people (around 14 years old) like rap music. Combining the two and throwing in a puppet for good measure results in the perfect advert for selling cars to 10 year olds! All the advert does is show the car can connect to an iPhone, wow!
The average 17 to 25 year old is going to hate the music and the cheesiness and the image the car is selling. Why would anyone in this age bracket want a Toyota Yaris when the competition (without even trying) look so much more fashionable by virtue of Toyota producing such a counter productive television commercial. I would think and hope that young people buying their first brand new car are wanting to aspire upwards and not downwards and for me that is what the Toyota Yaris Gadget guy tv commercial is essentially doing. The car in front is a Toyota, the driver in front is a unstylish tracksuit wearing chav (which they won’t actually be as we all know they buy Saxo’s).
I could go on and on like a doomed blue bottle trying to escape a closed window about how rubbish the Gadget Guy advert for the Toyota Yaris is, but you are most likely as bored as a discarded DFS sofa on a roundabout. So rather than moaning here is what I think Toyota and the advertising agency that probably pocketed tens of thousands of shiny pounds for their lame efforts should have done. Feel free to agree, disagree or offer up ideas to the unseen eyes of the world wide web in the cheap television comments below if you so wish.
Firstly I would have thought after all the issues Toyota had with the brakes on several of their cars any advertising they paid for would be to help rebuild the reputation of Toyota cars being extremely well built and reliable. Not the biggest selling point for younger consumers I know, but even for them and more importantly for the brand pushing this plus point is never a bad thing.
Secondly the Yaris is a cheap car to own and run, but again there is no mention or hint of any of this. Particularly for young people buying their first car the cost of tax and petrol is as important as spending 2 hours in the bathroom before leaving the house. Also car insurance in the UK has reached Silvio Berlusconi levels of ridiculousness in the past year. The cost can sway people into buying a car that won’t cost the Earth, the Moon and even Mars to insure! Both of these marketing points aren’t going to push a cool imagery on younger folk, but are underlying tones that really should be present. Unlike the annoying Gadget Guy television commercial they also would not put people off the Toyota Yaris.
Finally the main point, making the Toyota seem cool and desirable to the younger generation. Something Toyota and the advertising agency involved have so epically failed to achieve with the Gadget Guy TV commercial. What I believe they should have been trying to do is appeal to those inspirational ideas that so many young people have. Yes it’s a small car, but it’s cool and those who own one are on the first step of the ladder to owning something slightly flashier in the future. The Mini before they also started to devalue their brand by releasing variations of the Mini as ugly as my granddads nut sack and unnecessary as bacon flavoured ice-cream (think the Mini Coupe and Countryman).
So they should be making the Yaris appealing by making it look social, youngsters want to impress their friends so show it in a myriad of young well dressed people. Hell, stick them somewhere that young people want to go. Show those youngsters that are dreaming of going on a road trip with mates that the Toyota Aygo is a cool car to do it in. Show them this is what you could be doing if you buy one, these are the adventures you can have, the world is yours, go explore! Throw in a little of how well it drives and the technology (something the Gadget Guy commercial does show, albeit badly) and the features of the product. These are all simple well tested ideas that just work well. Being clever has just given us another crap television commercial and myself some stiff fingers, there are several other ways I’d rather be making my fingers stiff!
I have rabbited on for far too long about this annoying, badly considered and ill thought-out TV commercial. Even Kia car TV commercials are much better and more stylish. Hopefully the next time Toyota are about to sign off on a TV commercial they come and consult with me first, or even better commission me to come up with the ideas. And no I don’t know who sings the stupid song on the even more stupid Toyota Yaris TV commercial.
