Toyota Vs. Hyundai - Getting it Wrong and Right.

We now know how Toyota sped to the back of the pack, led by self-accelerating gas pedals, reluctant recall practices and bad PR. Less obvious but more informative as an advertising or marketing tactic is how Hyundai drove into the lead.



Viewed as a bargain-basement alternative for people who couldn't afford anything else, Hyundai saw the handwriting on the wall back in the day, and responded. It countered the brand perception with perhaps the most comprehensive warranty on a non-luxury vehicle at the time: five-year/60,000 miles on major powertrain components, and 10 years/100,000 for corrosion.

The warranty's effect was two-fold. Sure, it offered peace of mind for potential Hyundai buyers. But the brand message, that Hyundai must be a pretty good car for them to offer such an extensive warranty, was the image engine. In short, the brand recognized its reality, and dealt directly with how consumers related to it.

The same is true today, and Hyundai, is reaping more rewards.

The Hyundai Assurance Plan. Empathy as a Marketing Strategy

When the economy tanked last year, Hyundai didn't just show a price tag: It showed empathy. If you bought their car, and lost your job within the first year, they would take the car back, no questions asked.

When I heard that offer, it stopped me in my tracks.

Of course the Hyundai Assurance plan had some fine print. Only buyers who experienced problems outside their control - like losing a job or driver's license for medical reasons, or becoming disabled - would qualify. Also, purchasers must have made two payments before returning the vehicle, and would receive the depreciation on the vehicle, limited to $7,500. But it all, sounded reasonable.



In fact, it sounded like a car manufacturer, a foreign one at that, really gave a damn about my situation. Especially when Jeff Bridges - the commercial's announcer - said, "We're all in this together."

And the numbers prove it. According to the blog Cars.com, "Toyota fell from its perch as the leader in brand loyalty among car shoppers, slipping to third place while Hyundai surged ahead to first, according to Kelley Blue Book...."

"Hyundai increased its percentage of Hyundai owners looking at new models within the brand by 10.4 percentage points, to 56.3%. Toyota fell 4.4 percentage points to 53.3% from 2009 to 2010, mostly because of its highly publicized recall issues. Honda managed to increase its loyalty by 0.7 percentage points to 55.8%."

In other words, it pays to understand how your brand is perceived, and how your customers are feeling about their world, and then promote accordingly.

It's a ZOO out there

THE ORIGINAL? Copenhaguen Zoo Ambient – 2009 Source : Adsoftheworld, Fubiz, Agency : Bates & Werksette (Denmark)	LESS ORIGINAL : Le Choc des Titans / Clash of the Titans – Ambient –2010 Source : via Paper-Plane  Agency : Unknown,  (Paris, France)

by Joe La Pompe

how to build brands with a mindset other than advertising

Product Placement on Farmville

FarmVille will introduce its first ever sponsored crop- Peanuts!


As a sponsored FarmVille crop, Peanuts will feature a popular Israeli candy brand of  ”Elite Taami Nutz” which is a chocolate bar filled with peanuts.


We recently featured Peanuts on FarmVille Freak as an Unreleased item. The Elite candy company’s website displays a countdown showing farmers will have the opportunity to grow Peanuts as early as next week, with a projected debut date of April 14th. Their advertising company, Saatchi & Saatchi , also confirms this release date. In addition to the Peanut seeds, there will also be a farm competition where farmers are asked to use the crop creatively in the design of their farms.


The Peanuts are rumored to cost “20 credits to buy, sell for 78 credits and can be harvested in 16 hours”. We are assuming, they are referring to credits as FarmVille coins. (Source: Mashable)

With an audience of over 82 million users, FarmVille has the potential to reach an enormous audience. In-game advertising may not be new to gaming, but it will be interesting to see what Zynga’s FarmVille can do with partnerships or sponsoring of commercial marketing campaigns!

Kleenex| for Good Times and Bad

Kimberly-Clark has commissioned three posters by illustrator Gail Armstrong used to promote their internal staff awards. 


Each poster shows two images reflecting the potential positive and negative aspects of the same scenario – YES/NO for love, GLORY/FAILURE for footballer and KING/FOOL for the rockstar. The campaign is associated with the Kleenex “Let It All Out’ drive, assuring staff that Kleenex is there for the good and the bad.







Because Kleenex promises to mop up your tears, and the success of this brand is actually based on the tears of people like you.


You pretend that you are in love. But actually your have been ditched by your lover. You put on a brave face in front of the whole world, but you are really a shattered individual who inwardly drinks the bitter medicine of grief and failure. But, don’t worry, no you can worry, just let your tears out. The rest will be done by Kleenex.


This print campaign for Kleenex remorselessly urges you to express the real you and shed tears. So that the products can be sold.


CREDITS
Advertising Agency: JWT, London, United Kingdom
Creative Directors: Russell Ramsey, Dominick Lynch-Robinson
Art Director: Christiano Neves
Copywriter: Christiano Neves
Illustrator: Gail Armstrong
Photographer: Jonny Thompson.
Art Buyer: Coco Weir
Project Manager: Kevin Noble 

Al Rahma’s Mercy campaign

Advertising Agency: Full Stop, Saudi Arabia

Creative Director: Kamel Al Zahiry

Art Director and Photographer: Amr Al Masri

Copywriter: Kamel Al Zahiry

Adorama: “Life doesn’t stop for pictures.”

Riot

Fire

Streaker 

DDB, New York.