Scion, Toyota’s kid-brother-brand, yesterday unveiled yet another confusing and irrelevant ad campaign marketed to…we have no idea. Seriously. What is this?
Called “Make Every Second Count,†the ad spots consist of five web shorts created by young entrepreneurs: a chef/author/activist; a music promoter; a web filmmaker; a food truck driver; and a bicycling activist. Scion gave each entrepreneur a different car, a handheld video camera, and two weeks to come up with original content. Scion then teamed with an “award winning†filmmaker to presumably make sense of the result.
The final product(s) is as “interesting†as you would expect.
“We began telling the story of Scion’s history and core beliefs; now we’ve given the stage to individuals who embody that same passionate spirit in the ‘Make Every Second Count’ campaign,†said Doug Murtha, Scion vice president. “By showing how Scion fits into real lives and real goals, we shine a spotlight on the brand’s unique approach to empower its customers.â€
According to Scion, the new campaign will begin airing immediately for national broadcast, and is already present on its YouTube channel. No word on whether it expects to sell more cars as a result.
Automotive.com’s take: Maybe it’s because we aren’t entrepreneurs, or documentarians, and maybe because we’re singularly focused on things automotive (we don’t just like cars, we looove cars), but we just don’t get this campaign.
Yeah, sure, it’s cool to show how actual people use a product. The problem in this scenario is twofold: 1) These are not actual consumers, and 2) the two-weeks-for-free car and camera is about as inspiring to each entrepreneur’s “work†as a free buffet dinner is to ours.
That said, we applaud Scion for thinking outside the xB-shaped box. And it remains to be seen whether this campaign is actually successful for the automaker. But for us, it missed the mark. Pretty badly.
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