SeeMartin

To me Toyota Corolla symbolizes the total lack of personality. I’m not even worried that I’d offend people who drive it because they are probably so pragmatic that being offended seems like a waste of emotions to them. Year after year Toyota manages to “design” the non-descript, unnoticeable sedan perfect for a surveillance vehicle that you can park in front of buildings for days without anybody noticing the car. The 2011 model is no exception – the design finally caught up with what Hyundai Elantra looked …in 2000.

Last night I saw a hideous TV commercial by a local Hyundai dealership. The opening frame was of rows of marching dollar bills in sync with the sound of marching army boots (did my best to find the video but couldn’t). Then it continues to a quick and dirty animation of a Hyundai car rolling on top of the bills with an overly exciting voiceover repeating frantically the dealership’s name and “lowest prices”.

 Something tells me that the “mastermind” behind the storyline was the owner of the business and his thinking was along the lines “If I’m throwing my money for TV ads, I’ll make sure I’ll hammer my dealership name in their brains by repeating it 3 times a second” Might be an overgeneralization, but most dealership owners are old-school businessmen with an I-know-best attitude, hence the abundance of cheap, out-of-line commercials on the local channels.

I like the Hyundai brand. I like their corporate advertising too – it appeals to my taste for logical reasoning and consistency and more importantly – it perfectly fits Hyundai’s aspirations. They are slowly but methodically repositioning themselves in a very competitive industry. To that end, this dealership ad did not do justice to the brand. I wonder how the marketing people at Hyundai feel about commercials like this one. Some manufacturers are doing better job than others in controling their message.  I know that Hummer, of all brands, had very strict rules imposed on their dealerships in terms of local advertising (albeit insufficient to compensate for bigger – no pun intended problems).