Word: toyotas
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...other words, it's like water torture, and people just want it to stop. This week Sports Illustrated football scribe Peter King, author of the religiously read Monday Morning Quarterback column on si.com, wrote, "Someone please - I IMPLORE YOU - put that 'Saved by Zero' Toyota commercial out of its misery." About a month ago Colin Anderson, a freshman at Binghamton University in New York, was watching football in his dorm room when the once again ad appeared. "It was probably like the 20th time I had seen it that day," Anderson says. "It was driving me crazy." So he started...
...invective hurled the spot's way begs the question: Can an ad campaign be considered successful even if it's noticed for the wrong reasons? Toyota, as well as some marketing experts, thinks so. The Japanese carmaker is laughing off the criticism - and it may be laughing all the way to the bank. According to the company, the campaign is sending viewers to its showrooms in a dismal economic environment. "Business stinks," says Toyota marketing spokesman Joe Tetherow. The company's U.S. sales dropped 23% in October. "Our goal with the ad is to generate floor traffic...
...That's an understatement. But it's true that all of the negative attention - the news stories, the blog rants, the insulting YouTube videos - equates to free media for the Toyota brand. "That's worth a lot, especially in these tough times," says Akshay Rao, a marketing professor at the University of Minnesota. "You may dislike the Toyota ad for the aesthetics, but the underlying message of zero percent is coming through. Toyota is looking for recognition, recall and comprehension of the message." As painful as it is to admit - or hear the commercial yet again - "Saved by Zero" scores...
...when will Toyota relieve our pain? "To all the critics out there: the commercial will be over by the end of the month," Tetherow says. That's when the zero-financing offer expires. Sure, we'll have to suffer it through Thanksgiving football games. But for those muting the TV set whenever the ad airs, wishing it would stop, Christmas will come early this year...
...seriously considered dumping the Mustang during the 1990s until some cooler heads prevailed. The latest Mustang also has gained from the continuity on the team represented by Gelardi and Randle, who have stayed together for years, much like product development teams at the most successful Japanese companies such as Toyota and Honda. Whether Mustang can break through the consumer funk that has devastated new car sales lately remains to be seen...