Marketing
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EDITOR'S UPDATE: Four days after this article went live, Green Car Reports was contacted by Morpace, the company that conducted the study. Their representative informed us that all study panelists did in fact sign a confidentiality agreement, and therefore did not have the right to share any information from the study. We were not aware of this at the time we published the story. Last month, electric-car owners were recruited for a marketing study sponsored by "a major vehicle manufacturer." They were told that the interviews were to assess their interest in, and attitudes toward, some...
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Marketing Electric Cars As 'Medicine' = Fail, Movie Producer Says
Why would you buy a plug-in electric car? To save money on gas? To save the planet? Maybe. But that's not how they should be marketed, said Hollywood producer Dean Devlin. "The Volt is an amazing, groundbreaking car," he said. "The Leaf is a gigantic breakthrough--but they're being sold as...
John Voelcker -
What's Wrong With Chevy Volt Ads & How To Fix Them
People are rarely lukewarm about the Chevrolet Volt. Like health-care reform or pajama jeans, the Volt inspires love, loathing, and little in-between. That hasn't exactly helped Volt sales, which aren't yet living up to expectations, but fans insist that the car itself isn't the problem. They blame...
Richard Read -
Ryan Reynolds Gets Funny With The 2012 Nissan Leaf: Video
Isaiah Mustafa has ruined advertising. He may not have written his own monologues for those popular Old Spice ads, but Mustafa's deadpan delivery and sublime quirkiness have inspired a thousand would-be imitators. Even talented actors like Ryan Reynolds can't measure up, as we see in a new clip for...
Richard Read -
GM Takes Heat For 'Stop Pedaling, Start Driving' College Ads
To promote its college discount, GM recently ran ads advising students to 'stop pedaling and start driving,' which raised the ire of the League of American Bicyclists.
Kurt Ernst -
Behind The Disturbing Ad Campaign For The 2012 Toyota Prius
To make its new ad for the 2012 Toyota Prius family, Toyota tapped some of the same talent that made its previous "Harmony" campaign a success. But as intriguing as the behind-the-scenes footage may be, we're not entirely sold on the new "People Person" clip. You might recall that when Toyota...
Richard Read -
Have a few minutes to kill this Friday? Enjoy online games? Then you might like a walkthrough of Nissan's newest project, a "game-style promotion website" called "The Planet Zero". Nissan's website envisions a planet where everything runs on electricity generated by the sun and wind, and thus, there are no emissions generated from fossil fuels. You play the character of Plug, and by clicking on the planet's surface, you can learn more about the thoroughly green utopia in which he lives. Of course, this is all a branding exercise for Nissan, likely meant to cement the automaker's green...
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Toyota Tops List Of Green Brands, VW & Honda Close Behind
Toyota has had a bumpy ride the past couple of years, thanks in no small part to a high-profile series of safety recalls. To make matters worse, its popular Prius was recently lost its #1 spot on the EPA's list of fuel-efficient cars. But not to worry: the automaker just landed atop a different...
Richard Read -
Advertising Electric Cars: What To Make Of Leaf vs. Volt Spat?
For the first time in 80 years or so, major automakers are building and selling plug-in electric cars in the U.S. How are they letting people know about their new cars? Advertising, of course. Our colleague Richard Read looked at four electric-car TV ads, analyzing what made them work and what...
John Voelcker -
Volt, Leaf, And The Rest: How Automakers Pitch Electric Cars
We don't envy the makers of electric cars. They have to deliver vehicles that look as great as their gas-powered counterparts, and they have to explain those vehicles, too -- how they work, battery range, and so on. They've got a long, tough battle to win over consumers. But while we wouldn't...
Richard Read -
Making Music With A Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid & Unattended Baggage
About a year and a half ago, Scion launched a new webmagazine called ScionAV. The goal? To engage potential Scion shoppers (i.e. Millennials) on lifestyle topics like music, film, and fashion. It's the way marketing works in the Social Media Age: you don't just talk to customers in showrooms, you...
Richard Read -
Video: Toyota Prius Cranks Up The Crazy With Two Record-Breaking Days
Spring has sprung for the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In. The highly anticipated hybrid recently began making the rounds with critics, so it's not surprising that Toyota chose the end of this month to tout the Prius brand by hosting a live, two-day event in which four Prii will be put through a number...
Richard Read -
Toyota announced this week that it had ended what it called a “decade-long debate” by decreeing that the plural of Prius would be Prii henceforth and to the end of time. Okay, they didn’t say that last part. Toyota unveiled the winning word at the Chicago Auto Show this morning. Jay Schwartz, head of content for Dictionary.com, was on hand to inform the public that, as the plural of Prius has now been determined, the term 'Prii' will be reflected in Dictionary.com. After the more than 1.8 million votes were cast during the course of the six-week campaign, Prii beat out its...
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Hyundai Drops The Gloves, Will Call Out Sales of 40-MPG Cars
Just a month ago, we suggested that 40 miles per gallon is the new bragging threshold for subcompact and even compact cars. Now, Hyundai has dropped the gloves (or thrown down the gauntlet) with a clever marketing campaign to contrast it with other makers: It will start breaking out the sales of...
John Voelcker -
MINI and BMW Make Some Marketing Changes
You may remember the MINI Takes the States Tour 2010 that AllSmallCars.com reported on over the summer. Basically, it is a part of the core that is MINI lifestyle marketing and consisted of a road rally that started in many of the major U.S. markets and terminated in Denver, Colo. The event was...
Jonathan McGrew -
2011 Nissan Leaf: While You Wait, Have Some Stickers
You've heard by now that I'm buying a 2011 Nissan Leaf. In case you're wondering, it's a Cayenne Red SV, which I'm hoping implies some hyper-real blend of Porsche and Lamborghini performance. Maybe? Maybe not. I won't be among the first folks to take delivery, though. Lance Armstrong already has...
Martin Padgett -
Oops! Coda Sedan Promo Photos: Next To Charger It Can't Use
What happens when a publicity photo-shoot goes on the hunt for the perfect image but doesn't notice the devil in the details? Over the weekend, our sister site GreenCarReports was privileged to publish the first-ever official photographs of the production version of the 2011 Coda Sedan. As well as...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
GM Moving To Own 'Range Anxiety' For Chevy Volt Campaign?
Range anxiety—that's the worry that people feel as they approach an electric car's driving range—has long been a bit unbecoming to discuss among fierce electric-vehicle advocates; but looking out at the general market, it's one of the most significant barriers against widespread...
Bengt Halvorson -
Forgive us our weariness, please. It's only Thursday, but the barrage of news about the two upcoming electric cars that will go on sale for the 2011 model year is wearing us down. Nonetheless, we have manfully pulled ourselves together to bring you the video at the bottom of this piece, in which General Motors explains why it thinks the 2011 Chevrolet Volt is a better electric car than the 2011 Nissan Leaf. No dialogue, mind you. It's more like a Powerpoint with jazzy repetitive synth music behind it. First, a quick recap. The 2011 Volt is a range-extended electric car. Its lithium-ion...
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Remember the 2011 Chevrolet Volt's 230-MPG Claim? Forget It.
Almost a year ago, General Motors launched a little marketing campaign connecting its 2011 Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car to the figure "230 mpg." As we pointed out at the time, they were basing that projection on a proposed formula for fuel usage patterns that made a lot of assumptions...
John Voelcker -
Can GM Convince You a 2011 Chevy Volt Is the Go-Anywhere EV?
As we count down the months before the first 2011 Chevrolet Volts arrive at dealers in California, New York, Michigan, and Washington, D.C., it's time for the latest reboot of the Chevy marketing machine to kick into action. Chevrolet said in a press conference last week it would start running ads...
John Voelcker -
2011 Lexus CT 200h Hybrid Hatch 'Darker Side' Video Launches
You may recall that last month, we raised our eyebrows and scratched our head over the latest Lexus ad campaign, "The Darker Side of Green." The tagline, first unveiled at the 2010 New York Auto Show, turned out to be a teaser for the upcoming and unusual latest Lexus model, the 2011 CT 200h hybrid...
John Voelcker -
Nissan Announce Leaf Pricing in E.U., Confirm Three More EVs
Nissan Europe have announced the pricing structure for the European rollout of the 2011 Nissan Leaf. The Leaf car has received a huge number of reservations in the U.S already and will be launched in Europe in three stages. Nissan plans to release just one model of the Leaf in Europe, as oppose...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
NY Auto Show Puzzler: 'Darker Side of Green' = New Lexus Hybrid ??
Hmmmmmm. First Sarah Silverman, now "The Darker Side of Green." What exactly is going on with Lexus these days? The ominous message is the tagline for an interactive web video called, logically enough, Lexus Dark Ride. It'll be released May 13. "Young, energetic, tech-savvy" It's meant to attract...
John Voelcker