Toyota Prius Undefined

The new 2010 Toyota Prius recently launched their media for the campaign “Harmony Between Man, Nature and Machine”. From John Voelcker, Editor-in-Chief of All About Prius, the campaign is all about “highlighting the car's latest features, the campaign paints the Prius as offering what buyers want--advanced technology, more power, interior space, safety, and the magic 50-MPG figure--while simultaneously giving nature what it wants: lower tailpipe emissions.”

The team is reaching out to some other media outlets to build awareness outside of normal automotive channels (what I mean is not marketing in auto related websites or on portals.) They are planning some content within How Stuff Works and have already implemented a homepage wallpaper on Dictionary.com promoting the Prius.

Let’s discuss the Prius Dictionary.com example. Right now it is simply a beautiful image of a Prius that covers the homepage. It’s a nice break from traditional banner advertisements. Unfortunately where it leaves off is in getting some good content integration in the Dictionary site. For example, type in “Prius” to get a definition and all you get is “–adjective (in prescriptions) before; former.” And the best part is the “sponsored results” above the definition provide links to the 2009 Prius and the all new Honda Insight.

What Toyota should have done is, at least, own the Prius definition page advertising if people search Dictionary.com. They also could’ve included a definition about the car, if the Dictionary.com site would let them (I’m not sure if they have restrictions on only formal definitions can exist.)

It will be interesting to see how Toyota markets the new Prius against some competition from it’s Honda Insight neighbor. Already, Toyota is making some great traction as pre-orders have reached 75,000 units; though, I caution that number being customers only. What I’ve seen is a reporting of pre-orders also including dealership orders. Also, the Prius’ main competitor the Honda Insight isn’t getting rave reviews, at least from the world’s most anti-hybrid car reviewer – Jeremy Clarkson – who called it “Biblically horrible.”

When Your "Best Side" Is Under the Hood... You're Ugly

There have been numerous debates about how to properly advertise a car. Some of the most infamous include Infiniti's debut campaign that never showed a vehicle or when Range Rover took a "risk" showing a vehicle caked with mud, at a time when every vehicle was always shown as if it just rolled off the showroom. But I have never seen an advertisement that shows only the engine cover as its beauty shot. Enter the Kia Sorento. While reading the NY Times this evening, I noticed a rather puzzling shot of an engine block cover to the right of the article. Having removed an engine cover or two in my past, I knew what it was. But I doubt most people do, since very few of us open the hood of our cars.

There is no call to action or no message surrounding the engine cover image. Instead, just a price and the vehicle's name. I wonder if many people would even know it was an advertisement for a car? On rollover, a message about the vehicle's horsepower is given. But is this for a car, truck, SUV, or crossover??? I doubt the click through rate on this ad is very high. It is being advertised in an upper funnel spot, outside of an automotive context, with an image that resembles the chest plate of some futuristic robot or some really expensive lawn mower.

When advertising outside of an in-market automotive context, it is best to engage and interest the consumer, but to do so in a way that communicates who you are or gets them interested in what you are saying. A stale image of an engine cover with no engaging copy is the worst thing you can do. Kia has a compelling, low-price 5 passenger SUV in the Sorento that could be much better communicated to a large audience. It's a value product in an financially conscious time, so sell it on it's merits as a good buy without giving anything up (like moving to a small car for example.) Performance is not the Sorento's segment advantage or the care of most 5-passenger SUV consumers: value, versatility, and roominess are. So promote it in a way that interests a larger audience.

Maybe when the Kia Soul gets released will Kia finally show a vehicle from outside its engine bay.