Featured Post

Engine failures in MR2 Spyders

6/11/2014 - Updated the original post by entering direct links to reference material, and added remarks about the legal issues involved with...

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

"Slick" ad campaign backfires on Toyota

When I saw that Toyota's ad agency, Saatchi and Saatchi, was involved in marketing the new "family" of Glitch-mobiles ("Priuses" they like to call 'em), I got to wonderin' if Saatchi is part of Toyota's problem. Tryin' to recall (if you'll pardon the pun) a story that came out some time ago, I did a Google search, and there it was. Plenty of reason to be alarmed about the kinda folks Toyota depends on for advertising. You know. So-called "professionals" as opposed to customers.   

Toyota's ad agency was sending a woman anonymous e-mails with threatening overtones, etc., as part of a so-called marketing scheme for the Matrix. I won't belabor the absurdity. Suffice it to say that Toyota seems to have a way of terrorizing people. Startin' 2011 off with yet another month of disappointing sales, apparently Toyota's philosophy goes something like this: Big ad agencies, they got glitz. Pomp. And circumstance. As for customers? All they got is some old-fashioned thing called "word of mouth."

Wonder what the Toyota team will come up with next.

Update 2/3/2011 - Regarding the above link, Reuters censored my comment about Toyota's disappointing sales for January.  Such censorship is also alive and well at ABC News.

Update 9/13/2011 - The victim of Toyota's absurd marketing scheme filed a $10 million lawsuit, and an appeals court has ruled that the suit can go forward.