Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Hose baby is it anyway?
THERE are ads which make you laugh and there are ads which make you gasp, in astonishment, or even in fear.
Both approaches can work quite well in fostering brand recall, but they can backfire.
The latest ad for Toyota Automark is a combination of both approaches… but first the almost- shock and then the humour.
We see a proud dad with his almost ubearably cute little baby in a plastic basin, giving him (or her) a loving wash. It’s accompanied by sweet music and, no doubt, all the mums, wannabe mums and grannies (and even a few men) who see it cannot resist that little “ahhhhh…” moment.
Then dad grabs a high pressure hose and prepares for the rinse cycle.
Cue the gasps… especially the women.
Let’s face it, guys, who of the fathers among us have not either used, or thought about using, these type of industrial cleaning methods on the offspring, particularly around nappy-changing time?
Then we see him turn the spray on his real “baby” – a shining Toyota 86 sports car. Cue the sighs of relief – and maybe a few chuckles about men and their “can do” solutions.
The ad goes on to make the point that you can find your “baby” is used but in excellent condition at Toyota’s secondhand Automark dealerships.
Even though it has not been flighting for a long time, it has already started up a vigorous conversation and especially among women, so I am told.
And nobody will mistake the brand, so it’s good marketing and gets an Orchid for Toyota and Draftfcb Joburg.
A friend sent me an enraged text the other day: “Here’s an Onion. I get a long fancy MMS from Nedbank… unsolicited. Don’t have Nedbank account. And then I have to PAY to opt out.”
She then added the rest: “www. nedbank. co. za/ homeloans To opt out SMS Stop to 45258. R1 per SMS.”
They are not the only ones who do this sort of thing. I got one from Bradlows offering me “exclusive furniture” but told me I had to text Stop to opt out. No indication of text costs, though.
Somehow, somewhere, someone has got my name and put it in a database. Not much you can do about that, other than to contact the Direct Marketing Association of South Africa and put your name on a “do not contact” database.
If one of their members vio- lates that, action can be taken.
What these brands don’t realise is that this sort of marketing is certainly going to kill a goose which has the potential for laying many golden eggs. If you have the capability of send people unsolicited text messages in bulk, then surely there must be a way of designing the system so that when they respond to opt out, you get billed for that message?
Otherwise, you are just angering and alienating potential customers. Onions to Nedbank and Bradlows. You’re no different from the people sending messages telling me I’ve won £1 million on the British Lotto.