Best Kept Secret in Driving is Not Related to Driving
I was just recently having a conversation about advertising strategy -- like, what's the message, what's the intention, who are they targeting, what are they trying to convey with different kinds of ads, stuff like that. Sometimes it seems like companies are trying to basically confuse the audience into interest, and I was trying to think of a recent example. Enter, this crazy Acura TL Special Edition car commercial.
This commercial became available late 2013, and I remember watching it and being like "... what, was that??"
There is minimal voice over work, but a lot of visual plot. "Some secrets we outrun." Guy runs around house collecting things and running out to his car. Guy stops in a truck stop bathroom to do the man equivalent of one of those "take off your glasses and let your hair out of the bun, librarian turned super hot chick you never expected" make overs, and becomes a straight-laced guy with the swipe of a disposable razor, some scissors and a suit. Guy appears at the Alamo, other Acura appears, bride steps out with a pastor, "And some, we run with." Blah blah, details about the car.
I could forgive ending a sentence with a preposition, to maintain the symmetry of the phrases in the voice over. But I would have really loved to be a fly on the wall during that board room approval of this concept. Plot is really important for a commercial. We're supposed to psychologically connect with the characters and scenarios in ads, so that we create an emotional bond with the brand, and get up off our butts to trade our crappy cars in for this 280 horsepower special edition. Maybe people who are reaching an Acura-owning stage in life are also considering an off-beat indie wedding in the desert. If this is targeting for mid-20 -somethings looking to get their mature stable lives going, I guess it's carrying that demographic across, but I feel this commercial is memorable more for the feeling of mild, peeving confusion than for any emotional moment utilizing a relatable milestone. I just don't see how this relates to the car. Hopefully this vehicle will have greater longevity than the average marriage in this country.
As I've analyzed this commercial, in the last 20 minutes or so while I've composed this, I've started to come around on the ad; maybe it is about one of those defining life moments, and getting that mature car to go with your new phase of life. But it's taken me some analysis to get around to that idea. My gut reaction initially was to reject this one as a confusing message, but I've come around. As a hint to Acura though, "getting" the message shouldn't be quite so, "wait, what?"
This commercial became available late 2013, and I remember watching it and being like "... what, was that??"
There is minimal voice over work, but a lot of visual plot. "Some secrets we outrun." Guy runs around house collecting things and running out to his car. Guy stops in a truck stop bathroom to do the man equivalent of one of those "take off your glasses and let your hair out of the bun, librarian turned super hot chick you never expected" make overs, and becomes a straight-laced guy with the swipe of a disposable razor, some scissors and a suit. Guy appears at the Alamo, other Acura appears, bride steps out with a pastor, "And some, we run with." Blah blah, details about the car.
I could forgive ending a sentence with a preposition, to maintain the symmetry of the phrases in the voice over. But I would have really loved to be a fly on the wall during that board room approval of this concept. Plot is really important for a commercial. We're supposed to psychologically connect with the characters and scenarios in ads, so that we create an emotional bond with the brand, and get up off our butts to trade our crappy cars in for this 280 horsepower special edition. Maybe people who are reaching an Acura-owning stage in life are also considering an off-beat indie wedding in the desert. If this is targeting for mid-20 -somethings looking to get their mature stable lives going, I guess it's carrying that demographic across, but I feel this commercial is memorable more for the feeling of mild, peeving confusion than for any emotional moment utilizing a relatable milestone. I just don't see how this relates to the car. Hopefully this vehicle will have greater longevity than the average marriage in this country.
As I've analyzed this commercial, in the last 20 minutes or so while I've composed this, I've started to come around on the ad; maybe it is about one of those defining life moments, and getting that mature car to go with your new phase of life. But it's taken me some analysis to get around to that idea. My gut reaction initially was to reject this one as a confusing message, but I've come around. As a hint to Acura though, "getting" the message shouldn't be quite so, "wait, what?"
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