"imagine" Nissan LEAF. Little signage campaign...

[FalconFour]

Nissan is advertising about 100 times more Altimas than they are LEAFs. They're not even trying.

So to fill that gap and get the word out on the streets, I "dreamed" up this very simple campaign last night, half dozing off to sleep. Had to get up and nail it out in Photoshop.

The idea is to cut beyond the numbers and specific performance figures, the questions everyone asks about "range" and "speed" (a.k.a. "is it AS GOOD as my gas car?"), and go right for the "you can see I love it. why are you asking such silly questions?".

I've been dreaming electric for years...

PDF: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/35284720/postfiles/LEAF%20-%20Imagine.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
PSD: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/35284720/postfiles/LEAF%20-%20Imagine.psd" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thoughts?

 

[adric22]

My only thought is remove the Obama/Biden sticker. That automatically makes 50% of the population believe you are driving some sort of hippie-liberal-Obamamobile.

If you ever want to see EVs hit mainstream, we'll have to get past the politics.

 

[FalconFour]

That's the most rational argument I've ever seen for taking off an Obama sticker. :lol: (perhaps the ONLY rational argument? Hah, yes, this election year I'm in full-blown campaign mode...)

It'll come off November 6th, but until then it's a little too close to water down my support! Seriously, have you seen the polls? Yikes. It's so scary I'm willing to water down my EV promotion to make sure everyone goes to vote in a couple weeks...

 

[mkjayakumar]

I really like the Infinity MPG sticker..

 

[gaswalla]

I'm a guy with a LEAF with 25k in a very temperate climate... I'd like to "Imagine a battery that lasts..."

 

[TonyWilliams]

Great job, and I second the sentiment to get the political sticker(s) off the car.

During my Canada trip, I stopped in "real" northern California at a restaurant, and a woman approached me and my 9 year old daughter and said, "You're not the type of person I'd expect to be driving one of these".

There's a HUGE perception problem, and yes, you will alienate 50% of the population when you start with politics. They already know it's a Muslim terrorist forcing God fearing Americans to drive these dangerous golf carts. There's no need to remind them.

 

[FalconFour]

I really like the Infinity MPG sticker..

I had it custom made with the F-16 sticker from a guy on eBay... I just emailed him to see if he'll put up a listing for it.

I'm a guy with a LEAF with 25k in a very temperate climate... I'd like to "Imagine a battery that lasts..."

Just charge to 80%. That's what I do, just because I know I don't need all that range, and I'd like to keep the battery in good condition for when I do need it... and charge to 100% every now and then (by semi-accident with the charging-timer-disable button, usually)... you'll be fine.

There's a HUGE perception problem, and yes, you will alienate 50% of the population when you start with politics. They already know it's a Muslim terrorist forcing God fearing Americans to drive these dangerous golf carts. There's no need to remind them.

Just mix it with lead-footing the green lights and telling them how cheap it is to drive... the "smart choice" for a car goes hand in hand with the "smart choice" at the voting booth. I think I can hold off 'til November 6th, then I swear the sticker will come off. :lol:

 

[dgpcolorado]

"A $1 daily commute" depends on distance, speed, and electric rates. With my numbers that $1 would only take me about 26 miles, although I suppose that a lot of people have shorter commutes than that.

Now that I have my LEAF, I've taken over my one day a week commute from my carpool partner since it costs me about $1.60 in electricity (or nothing if I count solar) versus his $6 in gas. Even though he gets paid and I volunteer, my goal is to reduce oil use. Needless to say, I have a happy carpool partner...

 

[gbarry42]

Mine would have to say $1.50, but that's a detail. Very good poster.

 

[ENIAC]

My only thought is remove the Obama/Biden sticker. That automatically makes 50% of the population believe you are driving some sort of hippie-liberal-Obamamobile.

Do you mean the 47%? Or the uneducated Fox News views? Here's what's really going on in the election.
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/author/nate-silver/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[FalconFour]

"A $1 daily commute" depends on distance, speed, and electric rates. With my numbers that $1 would only take me about 26 miles, although I suppose that a lot of people have shorter commutes than that.

Now that I have my LEAF, I've taken over my one day a week commute from my carpool partner since it costs me about $1.60 in electricity (or nothing if I count solar) versus his $6 in gas. Even though he gets paid and I volunteer, my goal is to reduce oil use. Needless to say, I have a happy carpool partner...

Yeah, I really just used my number. I live 2.5 miles from the office :lol: I usually do far more travel in a day going around town and doing other things, but it does average out to using around half the battery each day, which runs out to about a buck. All the various other things factored in - like being able to power the car with solar power for free - and I figure a buck is a figure that isn't overly specific (like "$0.99" seems to people like it's cheaper than $1.20), somewhat unbelievable but grounded in enough actual data to fly as an actual figure. Besides, it's "imagine", right?

That's also why I don't like getting into "how long does it take to charge?" discussions. "22 hours" is the answer I would give that technically and accurately answers that question. The fine-print is too long and the initial impression was already made by the "whoa... um, that's a long time" thing. So I dance around the answer there to establish the lack of importance of charging, the lack of a "memory effect" (can you believe, 2 decades later, people still believe in "memory" caused by Ni-Cd batteries in timer chargers?)... even gotten into a talk with someone who'd seen "Who Killed the Electric Car" (out in a random public encounter! I know, right?), and talked about how the batteries in today's EVs are vastly different from the bad-idea-from-the-start lead batteries in the original EV1... or as I call it, the "1998 Nissan LEAF"

The idea of this poster is to make it simple enough to trigger curiosity at a glance. The rest of the questions can be answered at the dealership when they go test-drive a LEAF. It's mostly about changing that perception

 

[Stanton]

I really like the Infinity MPG sticker..

I had it custom made with the F-16 sticker from a guy on eBay... I just emailed him to see if he'll put up a listing for it.

So what did he say? Now I'll buy THAT for a $1 (or maybe more)

 

[GetOffYourGas]

"A $1 daily commute" depends on distance, speed, and electric rates. With my numbers that $1 would only take me about 26 miles, although I suppose that a lot of people have shorter commutes than that.

Now that I have my LEAF, I've taken over my one day a week commute from my carpool partner since it costs me about $1.60 in electricity (or nothing if I count solar) versus his $6 in gas. Even though he gets paid and I volunteer, my goal is to reduce oil use. Needless to say, I have a happy carpool partner...

Yeah, I really just used my number. I live 2.5 miles from the office

I really hope it doesn't cost you $1 for enough electricity to drive 5 miles! :shock:

On a more serious note, I try to relate it back to the price of gas. You have the same limitations of "well, it depends". It depends on what ICE car. It depends on your electric rate (most people seeing your car are likely paying similar rates to you though). How about "Imagine paying $1/gallon for gas". Now that gets people's attention.

 

[FalconFour]

I really hope it doesn't cost you $1 for enough electricity to drive 5 miles! :shock:

On a more serious note, I try to relate it back to the price of gas. You have the same limitations of "well, it depends". It depends on what ICE car. It depends on your electric rate (most people seeing your car are likely paying similar rates to you though). How about "Imagine paying $1/gallon for gas". Now that gets people's attention.

My work-and-home trip may be 5 miles, but with a car that can go anywhere, factor in going to lunch anywhere in town I can dream of and not be penalized in gas costs, going to a friend's house unannounced because it doesn't matter if he's not home or busy since there's no gas-cost penalty, go waste time driving around town because driving is no longer a significant cost...

I'm doing a series of one-liners for this series. Next is "imagine never filling up again". Other ideas are "imagine no oil changes", "imagine instant torque"...

 

[FalconFour]

As promised... today I'm sporting the "dump the pump" message :lol:

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

where did you get your infinite MPG sticker?? cause I WANT ONE!!!

 

[adric22]

where did you get your infinite MPG sticker?? cause I WANT ONE!!!

I wouldn't want one. I bet let less than 10% of the population would know what an infinity sign means and I bet 50% of the population would think it is a sideways 8 meaning you get 8 MPG.

 

[eclecticflower]

Nice poster. My commute costs me ~$0.15/day (now THAT would get attention!). My commute is ~16 miles RT; I charge 1.5 hours nightly @ $0.11/kWh and sometimes I skip a day charging. I don't always drive both weekend days. Average electricity usage cost (according to Carwings) is between $11 and $13 per month, so monthly average ~$0.43/day; even less @ the winter rate of $0.09/kWh. I could see putting "<$0.50/day" on your poster or "Imagine <$0.50/day commute." A design with a blank for writing in the cost would be nice, too: "My daily commuting cost is ____/day." Add "Imagine how!" or "Ask me how!" Lot's of ways to do it, I s'pose.

Realistically, you DO fill up, so maybe "Imagine never filling up with gas again!"

Love the infinity mpg sticker!

 

[LEAFer]

where did you get your infinite MPG sticker?? cause I WANT ONE!!!

I wouldn't want one. I bet let less than 10% of the population would know what an infinity sign means and I bet 50% of the population would think it is a sideways 8 meaning you get 8 MPG.

I'd rather use a "99 MPGe" sticker ... for those unfortunate souls that do NOT understand the sideways 8. A quick look give the impression of 99MPG (they won't notice the "e") and that's enough to create attention.

 

[Nubo]

where did you get your infinite MPG sticker?? cause I WANT ONE!!!

I wouldn't want one. I bet let less than 10% of the population would know what an infinity sign means and I bet 50% of the population would think it is a sideways 8 meaning you get 8 MPG.

I'd rather use a "99 MPGe" sticker ... for those unfortunate souls that do NOT understand the sideways 8. A quick look give the impression of 99MPG (they won't notice the "e") and that's enough to create attention.

Yeah, but Volt drivers report 200 or 300 "mpg"... The electric usage is ignored of course, but true enough as relates to "gallons of gasoline". Someone who doesn't know the details may think "why bother with LEAF when a Volt gets 3 times better MPG"? Getting them to understand MPGe is a bridge too far. Maybe just something along the lines of "Imagine 10,000 miles/No Gallons" or:

Miles - 10,000
Gallons - 0

(substitute your odometer reading).