SeeMartin

One commercial on Versus that I particularly like is the Turtle Wax Ice commercial below. It nails down everything – the message, the execution, the channel, everything! I think that commercials like this are the earthly appearance of (and justification for) focus groups, zmet analysis etc. theoretical tools. It clicks with me – I associate with the guy, it’s on Versus – the boys channel, and most importantly – I REMEMBERED the product after the first viewing: Turtle Wax Ice. It is not often to see such a quality commercial for such a niche, relatively inexpensive product.

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).

I’ve been following the Geico commercials for quite a while and the latest theme made me think that there must be a more strategic way to manage their ad campaigns. Being owned by Berkshire Hathaway it is not surprising that they pour a fortune in TV advertising but it seems to me their ads are loosing focus. There are at least four distinct themes: “so easy the cavemen can do it”, “15 minutes could save you 15% or more”, the gecko and the CEO talking about trust, relationships etc., and now the one below. What is their value proposition? Easy to get a policy? Savings? Customer service? All of the above? Undoubtedly, if you advertise so aggressively you’ll gain some market share, but what is their ROMI in comparison with Progressive for example? Progressive’s ads are very focused, very consistent and with clear message. It would be interesting to hear what industry analysts can say about the two companies head-to-head.