Omni Automotive Advertising Blog

What can it possibly mean that my just-turned 2 year old sings the anthem of Toyota’s most recent advert, unprompted?

Two. Just-turned.

Yes, I write car ads, but, no, I don’t subject my family to multiple and thorough scrutinies of them each time one airs. In fact, in our home, we 21^st-centuriers have taken the liberty of Tivo many a primetime: We frequently fast forward right through those two-‘n-twos. (Hello? Ever heard of the pulse-pounding, pre-commercial break cliffhangers of America’s Next Top Model? [Yes, my hubby is secure enough in his manhood to at least multi-media-task through a season of said show with me; and we fast-forward to find out who is still in the running towards becoming America's next top model together, thank you very much!].)

Although my tender tyke’s channel of choice is Noggin – a land totally Toyotaless – somehow this crafty ad has circumvented all obstacles en route to my boy’s eyes and ears and stamped its music track on his brain.

Forget about its unrelenting banner ads, its neato graphics and even its subliminal message of financial hope. This campaign did just what it should have to heave its hook on the tips of tongues everywhere, or, as we say in Ad Land, it did what it should have to be memorable, memorable, memorable: It found itself a catchy little jingle. Don’t believe me? Point to a zero and ask a person who has just entered toddlerhood what it is.

You might just hear what I do when I ask: Saaaaaaved byyyy zeeeerooooo… Savedbyzerooo! Savedbyzerooo!

Lists are important. They remind us of the stuff we too often forget. Lists help us remember to buy eggs at the grocery store or to pick up the dry cleaning on Thursday.

Unfortunately in this multitasking do it yesterday world, we need lists to aid our memory. Our brains are not wired to remember so much information. Lists are boring, yet essential in our every day lives.

Yet, marketers are now using lists as a marketing tactic. Instead of focusing in on a specific quality of a product or service that can make an emotional appeal to a consumer, marketers would rather rattle off a list of features in the hopes that one feature will strike a consumer to purchase. Throw enough spaghetti against the wall and some of it is sure to stick.

The thought is thus: Why choose one feature on this product when we can advertise eight? Surely more is better.

It’s not. More does not connect. More is not memorable. More equals more noise and less focus.

Is this the strategy you want for your product or service?

Imagine if your advertising was a quarterback? which QB would you rather have? The QB who throws the ball down field in the general vicinity of a wide receiver or the QB who uses pinpoint accuracy to find his receiver.

Sure by zeroing in on a specific target, a QB will throw an interception and a marketer will make a mistake and pick the wrong attribute to motivate consumers. But fear should not guide your decision.

In these tough times, more and more marketers are opting for fear instead of innovation. By basing your decisions on fear, everything becomes bland, boring and unremarkable. Fear makes you choose the easy and safe decision.

Right now, nothing is easier than a list. Lists are the tools of an unsure and indecisive marketer. Is that really what you want? Is that what your client wants?