Toyota relies on brand legacy during times of trouble

Talk about a summer of discontent. It seems that almost every week, another Toyota vehicle recall is announced. And it feels like no make or model year has dodged (pardon the pun) the recall bullet.

For instance, in April 2010, 50,000 Toyota Sequoias were recalled to reprogram the stability control system. In July, more than 400,000 Avalons and LX-470s got the hook for faulty steering column components. The latest recall involves a potential stalling problem affecting 1.3 million Corollas and Matrix cars. (I love it when a company spokesperson states the recall repairs will be performed “at no cost to consumers.” Oh, the generosity!)

So, what can a self-respecting auto company like Toyota do to combat all the bad press? It appears their strategy is to tap heavily into the company’s brand equity bank. That’s why freshly minted Toyota branding TV spots are popping up everywhere. Most center on quality-oriented themes like “dependability” and “longevity.” One features a rather smitten end user with 300,000+ miles on his trusty Toyota coupe. And why not? For decades, Ford and GM have relied on vintage Mustang and Camaro owners to serve as spokes-cheerleaders in their advertising campaigns.

Hey, when quality control gets shaky with your current offerings, there’s no harm in hitting the brand legacy trail. The inference seems to be, “We have a long history of building quality, trouble-free cars. Why would you think our current products would be any different?” Umm, maybe because they’re all being recalled? Just a thought.

How will a scandal impact your brand?

Ben Roethlisberger. Michael Phelps. Tiger Woods. When these sports celebrities submerged themselves in various depths of hot water, did the brands they endorse feel the heat? Not as much as you might suspect, according to a recent Adweek Media/Harris Poll. It left researchers wondering if survey respondents were understating the degree to which scandals grab their interest. Or, it could be that a person’s indifference to a lot of marketing may help insulate brands from collateral damage.

In other words, how could you think less of Titleist golf balls after the Tiger Woods scandal if you didn’t know Tiger was endorsing them? It’s interesting to note people age 55 and older were especially unlikely to alter their view of a brand (81 percent said so versus 72 percent of younger folks). My favorite group of respondents is the 1 percent who said they feel “much better” about a brand when the celebrity endorser is involved in a scandal!

How ironic - a writer who can't type.

There I’ve said it. The fact that I have 20-plus years of writing experience and never learned to type with any more than two fingers is hardly a point of pride. To me, watching someone type with ten fingers (without looking down at the keyboard) is like witnessing someone spinning a basketball on a fingertip. It’s a wondrous, magical skill. I realize that I could learn to type like a normal person, but then again I could also learn to fingertip-spin a basketball. But let’s face it. I’ll never be a Harlem Globetrotter.

My latest personal revelation is tied to the “Ultimate Typing Championship,” which took place on March 14 in Austin, Texas. Let’s call it “March Madness, nerd-style.” (Who lines up for tickets to an event like this?) The winner, Sean Wrona, broke the world record with a speed of 163 words per minute. First-place prize? $2,000. The event has a website that dares you to match your typing skills against America’s most fleet-fingered folks. (I’d suggest going into battle with all ten digits.)

Things have really changed in the online world.

I’ve become a big fan of the publication Mediaweek, despite the fact that I’ve never planned nor bought any media — ever. Yet, for some reason, I’m sent a copy of this magazine every week, so who am I not to read it? It’s funny how certain publications find their way to your mailbox. For example, I also look forward to my weekly dose of Modern Manicurist. There’s nothing quite like an article centered on the finer points of nail sculpture.

But getting back to Mediaweek, their recent “Best of the Decade” issue offers some interesting statistics about online-related trends over the last ten years. I love interesting statistics. (Perhaps Mediaweek realizes this and that’s why they’re sending me their magazine.) Here’s the first online fact: “Americans who said they used the Internet in 2000-01: 53%. Americans who use it today: 75%.” That’s three people out of every four. Not totally surprising. How about, “Total daily time Americans spent online in 2000: Less than 30 minutes. Time they spend on the web each day now: 4 hours.” No wonder we’re all so chunky! What were we doing with the extra 3? hours not spent online in 2000, power-walking? And perhaps the most astounding online statistic of all, “Number of text messages sent in 2005: 5.4 billion. Estimated number of text messages sent in 2008: 1+ trillion. That’s “trillion” with a “tr.”

Next up: I offer some hot tips on the do-it-yourself reverse French manicure.

Which occupation do you trust?

When I’m at a social gathering, and people ask what I do for a living, I say I’m in advertising. And the standard response is, “Oh, really? Have you done anything I may have seen?” It’s tough knowing how to answer that one. But I’ve never felt ashamed of my chosen profession — until now.

A recent survey by GfK Custom Research revealed we advertising types are not to be trusted. People were asked how much they trust various professionals. As you could probably guess, firemen finished first (95 percent), followed by military personnel (85 percent), doctors (83 percent) and schoolteachers (83 percent). Bankers took the biggest hit in this year’s trustworthy tally, falling from 63 percent last year to 44 percent today.

But even sadder to me is the paltry number of folks who trust advertising people — 24 percent — or marketers — 27 percent. Of little consolation, politicians finished even lower on the trust totem pole at a dismal 21 percent. Casual research indicates that this distrust of advertising practitioners is a continuing trend. So what can we ad people do to polish up our eternally tarnished image? I’m thinking of starting an agency staffed entirely by firemen.

Where is today's face-to-face communcation?

Much of what you read here in AB&C Blogland relates to technology. We offer our thoughts on the latest developments, trends and leaps forward in the rapidly advancing world of web connectivity. Things have reached the point where you can’t go too many places without spotting someone staring down at some sort of handheld device. Even my travel plans have been affected! It used to be that long car trips to client meetings meant there’d be time to catch up on the latest office gossip.

Not too long ago, we’d have a grand old time chatting it up about former employees, quirky clients and weird stuff lying by the side of the road. The vehicle’s driver would have a pocketful of change to make a pay phone call, if and when that need ever arose. Remember pay phones? But now, car trips mean catching up with others — electronically. Just last week, I rode shotgun to a client meeting with several coworkers. Instead of nonstop conversation as the car bounced down the road, there was silence — as my traveling companions furiously tweeted and texted away. It seems that everyone in America is staying in touch with each like never before — but sadly, not necessarily face-to-face.

Boys' Life Magazine

The following paragraph may be lost on you — unless you are a former (or somehow current!) Boy Scout of America. Let me explain. I was in the dentist’s office this morning and spied a copy of Boys’ Life magazine in the rack. Seeing as this was a doctor’s waiting room, I fully expected this particular issue to be at least 30 years old. Imagine my surprise when I saw “June 2009” emblazoned on the cover!

With so many long-standing print publications meeting their demise these days, it gave me great comfort to unearth a current issue of a magazine that had such a profound effect on my boyhood years. I quickly thumbed through this latest issue to get a sense of how much scouting must have changed in America since yours truly roamed the woods. Amazingly, I found a number of Boys’ Life columns and comic strips that have somehow survived the past several generations. (Here comes the inside stuff for “scouts only.”)

Do you remember “The Wacky Adventures of Pedro?” What about “Pee Wee Harris,” the bumbling boy scout? And who can forget the always-dramatic “Scouts in Action” or the classified section called “Tradin’ Post?” Yep, they’re all still kickin.’ And it appears the very same cartoonists are still cranking out the ideas on a monthly basis. I may have long-since forgotten how to tie a square knot, whittle a Pinewood Derby® race car and successfully treat snakebite, but it’s nice to know some new kids are picking up the slack, thanks to Boys’ Life. Go get ’em, boys.

The reality of cruises

Think of any Caribbean cruise TV commercial you’ve ever seen. Most likely you’d envision endless “beautiful people” cavorting in sky-deck swimming pools, working out in floating fitness centers and toasting each other in seagoing gourmet restaurants. After spending a vacation day aboard a well-advertised cruise line ship, I’m here to tell you: Nothing could be further from reality. During the last week of February, I attended a wedding aboard a colossal pleasure craft that sat docked in the Port of Tampa, which gave me a few fleeting hours to drink in the surroundings. The ship was about to set sail and wedding guests were granted temporary access to witness the ceremony.

This gave me the opportunity to spy on the hordes of excited passengers boarding the ship—and each was more than ready to cannonball headfirst into the party atmosphere that awaited them on this week-long trip for the budget-minded. Some groups arrived draped in Mardi Gras beads. Most of the male passengers I saw wore T-shirts proudly promoting every sports franchise from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Knoxville Ice Bears. And instead of nonstop beautiful people, I saw dozens of folks in wheelchairs, on oxygen and strapped to what appeared to be hand trucks. (I’m guessing there may have been a few machines free in the fitness center during this cruise.)

I learned that each cruise ship has its own unique theme. My ship was created to honor the “legends” of Hollywood’s cinematic past. The boat’s interior design can only be described as Studio 54 disco meets Graceland, with a heaping side order of RuPaul thrown in. The soaring main lobby featured four glass-enclosed elevators that were every bit as ornate as one of Loretta Lynn’s engagement ring settings. Everything on the ship – from the piped-in dance music to the air conditioning to the beer taps – was already pumping full blast.

The universal currency of this entire enterprise was the English language. Talk about a floating United Nations. One thousand crew members of almost every nationality scurried about in an effort to serve the 2,000 newly arrived passengers. And every worker had a specialty. The more menial the task, the less likely the crew member was to speak English. For example, the instant a tropical drink accidentally hit the deck, along came a young foreign kid with a wet mop, followed by a damp mopper, followed by a dry mopper. Just don’t ask these moppers where the sky deck is.

I figured most of the guests had probably never been near a body of water as vast as the Gulf of Mexico, nor been waited on by such an army of eager-to-please cocktail servers. The actual cruise experience may be worlds away from its upscale TV depiction, but this crowd didn’t seem to mind. You could readily tell that the majority of these partying passengers bought the cruise ship’s sales pitch hook, line and sinker.

The E*Trade Baby

During the month of March, most of America’s sports-minded souls have found themselves “on the road to The Final Four.” I heard that CBS-TV broadcast 96 hours of college basketball action in one weekend alone.

And, if you’re part of an NCAA office pool, you’ve probably spent a lot of those 96 hours glued to your TV. That’s because gambling helps the sports world go ‘round.Which brings me to the ubiquitous E*TRADE TV spots starring the wisecracking “trading baby.” Love him or hate him, you can’t go a TV sports half-hour without seeing this computer-enhanced, smart-mouthed toddler. Are you like me? Do you wait for a new E*TRADE spot to debut so you can see what nutty high jinks the kid is up to next?

Catch some baby outtakes at etrade.com/baby.

But the whole thing leaves me wondering, how many consumers know who the baby is but not the brand he’s pushing? So the big question is, do the continuing adventures of this kid really move the sales needle for E*TRADE? Does this sort of approach engender trust in a financial services company? Or are the E*TRADE folks simply the biggest gamblers of all?

Radio

What do people hate most about radio? The commercials! The steady growth of listenership to commercial-free satellite radio music formats offers compelling proof. A growing number of listeners are more than willing to pony up $12.95 a month to be spared the relentless onslaught of irritating, irrelevant radio spots.

Now, think of some recent memorable (and successful) radio campaigns. The Motel 6 chain built an empire on the voice of folksy humorist Tom Bodett. For more than a decade, Bodett’s quirky, whimsical radio spots helped put millions of heads in Motel 6 beds. And Anheuser-Busch tapped the humor vein for all it was worth with their award-winning “Real Men of Genius” radio campaign for Bud Light beer. Instead of reaching to change the station, listeners sat intently while they drank in the hilarity of hundreds of these inventive commercials. So the truth is, if you reward a radio listener in some way, be it with humor or just a simple homespun story, you’ve made a positive impression and, quite possibly, a sale. It’s building a brand, one chuckle — or memorable moment — at a time.

For some reason, many advertisers are willing to spend a fortune on media, yet they invest next to nothing on creating the message. Since the invention of the medium, radio stations have offered free spot production as part of their “value-added services.” And inevitably, many local advertisers take the bait. More often than not, they get exactly what they pay for. Often it’s a poorly written (and acted) script performed by radio station personnel that does next to nothing to make a brand stand out. And sometimes the client takes a crack at it.

Local advertisers tend to make this mistake over and over again. Their thinking must be, “This message is so important, we’re asking our boss to tell you about it!” The talent selection process probably goes something like this:
“Do you have an acting background?”
“No.”
“Do you possess a compelling on-air personality?”
“No.”
“Have you ever done anything like this before?”
“No.”
“Well, then, you’re the perfect spokesperson to represent our precious product!”

And the biggest problem with having some sales manager — or worse yet, the owner’s wife — reading the script is that no one is there to tell them this strategy is a lousy idea! Radio salespeople want their client’s media dollars, so why would they offer any criticism? And that sales manager’s staff wouldn’t think of putting down the boss, no matter how mediocre the performance might be. So you’re left with an amateur spokesperson droning on for 60 insufferable seconds.

So is it any wonder the tune-out factor is so high when it comes to radio spots? Local advertisers would be far better served to consult the experts. Seek out a firm that has experience in creating memorable audio messages. Ask to hear a firm’s radio reel. Then compare it to what you may have planned. A little front-end investment in crafting breakthrough creative has a much better chance of paying major long-term dividends.