Toyota Corolla 'It's a Trap' TV Commercial

An example of another great TV ad, this one surprisingly from Toyota...



I'm not sure how old this Toyota TV commercial is or in what country it aired in, but its a fantastic ad.  Not only does it capture the audience and entertain, but it sells the car's primary consumer benefit and connects deeply with the brand's equity in a clever and authentic manner. 

Chevy no longer 'Runs Deep', but will 'Find New Roads'. At least for the time being...

Chevy recently announced that it was replacing its tag-line "Chevy Runs Deep" with the new tag-line "Find New Roads".

"Chevy Runs Deep"was launched in 2010 and only lasted a few years.  Though switching tag-lines is nothing new for the General Motor's brand.  Past tag-lines include "See the USA in Your Chevrolet," "Heartbeat of America,", and "An American Revolution".  The question is will this new tag-line have more sticking power?  

My guess is no.  My guess is Chevy will be searching for a new tag-line in another few years and they could have better spent the few million dollars they invested on this re-launch effort on something else that better built the brand. 

It's not that I don't like the tag-line from a creative standpoint.  And, I'm confident all the consumer research GM surely did prior to rolling out the new tag-line showed positive consumer sentiment.  After all, "Find New Roads" is very likable.  Its optimistic and it points towards the future not the past.  It grabs hold of the current America sentiment for wanting something new, something better.  The problem is that being popular with consumers in testing, doesn't necessarily make it a successful tag-line.

So what makes a successful tag-line?  There are four elements that have to be true:

1. It has to be unique
2. It has to be ownable (by connecting to the brand heritage or underlining equity)
3. It has to brings to life a consumer benefit (ideally a high order benefit than just the product performance)
4. It has to have the potential to tug at the consumer heartstrings or make an emotional connection

To me the biggest problem with the new Chevy tag-line is it doesn't resonate as an unique, ownable benefit that only Chevy can deliver on.  What about find new roads distinctly connects with the Chevy brand?  For me, the line fails to connect with the brand heritage and brand equity.  While it is clever, I struggle with the brand linkage to Chevy and that makes the tag-line feel empty and somewhat soulless to me.  

Aspirational for sure. A great internal compass to guide the future development.  Just not a great fit from a consumer branding standpoint.

     

Only a Honda is a Honda, or is it?

Honda has recently launched a TV campaign trying to differentiate Honda from it's competitors with the tagline "Only a Honda is a Honda". The tagline is great, but does it really say anything? Or is it trying to draw a point of differentiation where none exists?

Honda rose to prominence in the U.S. in beginning in the 1970's with an equity built around affordable, dependable, and fuel-efficient cars. This strategy helped differentiate it from the American Big 3 and win market share. At the same time, Honda was able to separate itself from its compatriot, Toyota, because it leveraged a slightly sporty look supposedly born from its founder's racing history.

Fast forwarding to 21st millennium, American, European, and Korean cars have all essentially caught up with Honda/Toyota's reliability and fuel efficiency - essentially eliminating a big portion of what had made Honda a Honda historically. Not only that, but the Korean car manufacturers have enhanced the pressure on Honda/Toyota by continuing to undercut price, while offer a superior warranty and even including some historic luxury items in at base prices - thus creating a highly competitive value equation to help overcoming their weaker historic brand equity. Thus not surprisingly, Honda’s U.S. sales which were more than doubled the combined U.S. sales of Hyundai and Kia as recently as 2007, were only 1 percent higher last year.

So, when Honda says "only a Honda is a Honda" in their latest TV ads its moving into damage control mode.

While the ads don't mention any competitors by name they do make remarks implying that Honda is still the most reliable car on the market. For example one line claims that just because the competitor's warranty is reliable, it doesn't make the car dependable - clearly a reference to Hyundai's famous 10 year warranty. However, it's notable that Honda makes these assertions in a very vague and understated fashion - suggesting it may no longer have the ability to legally claim superiority. While Honda's brand equity gives it a reservoir of credit when it comes to dependability, the gap to all other car companies will continue to deteriorate as other manufacturers catch up. Thus, Honda must look to evolve its point of differentiation in order to remain a leader in the long-run.