Non-sappy commercial ideas

For those who find themselves making the "stick two fingers down your throat" gesture whenever that polar bear hugger commercial runs, try this on for size, or post your own:

The scene: "Pawn Stars" shop in Vegas

Guy walks in with a gas pump on a hand truck.

Rick Harrison: What do we have here?
Customer: A 2009 Wayne-Dresser gas pump

head shot of Rick: Time was, if you wanted your car to keep going, you always had to be stopping and buying gasoline for it. It was a real nuisance, it always seemed like you had to stop when you were in a hurry, but you had to do it. On top of that it was really expensive, and this was the machine that sucked the money out of your bank account. Oil companies loved them, but customers hated them.

RH: What were you looking to do, pawn it or sell it?
C: I'd like to sell it

RH: What were you looking to get out of it?
C: I'm into it for 15 grand. I'd like to get $300 for it.

RH: You know that's just not going to happen. People just don't want these things any more.
C: What can you offer me for it?

RH: I've got a buddy that converts these things to vacuum cleaners. I'll give you like 20 bucks for it, take it or leave it.
C: OK, deal.

RH: Let's go do some paperwork. CHUMLEE! Take this thing to the back!

Announcer over beauty shot of car: The Nissan Leaf... never needs a gas pump.

scene behind the pawn shop: Chumlee vacuuming out a Leaf parked behind the shop with a converted gas pump vacuum cleaner... Old man walks up "Aren't you done cleaning out that car?" and gets in and drives away.

That would make a great commercial!

Nah - really... the best way to sell this car is to make it appealing. Think the new Kindle ads with the woman reading in the sun.

Show the car speeding off from a stop light. Show a person driving it and smiling. Show a person driving by people filing up with gas at a crowded gas station and smiling. Show a person smiling as he drives by people getting oil changes. Show someone getting into a pre-cooled car while everyone else is sweating to death.

Heck - even fill it with a bunch of tall people too to show how big it is.

Make the car fun... and sexy. Which it can be.

So the idea is to appeal to someone who doesn't like the gas pump - for no particular reason ?

evnow said:

So the idea is to appeal to someone who doesn't like the gas pump - for no particular reason ?

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No, the idea is to appeal to people who really like vacuum cleaners - for no particular reason. :roll:

LTLFTcomposite said:

No, the idea is to appeal to people who really like vacuum cleaners - for no particular reason. :roll:

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I don't think Nissan is targeting that demo

ps : For some reason poeple think Nissan should be cowards and tip toe around real reasons for EVs. I don't agree. Just like they have an ad based on AGW, they should have an ad based on "energy security".

A Nissan Leaf commercial really just needs to be like every other car commercial. If you want an "angle", just show people getting to average everyday locations followed up by a closing shot of them "plugging in" at home.

DarkStar said:

A Nissan Leaf commercial really just needs to be like every other car commercial. If you want an "angle", just show people getting to average everyday locations followed up by a closing shot of them "plugging in" at home.

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That certainly wouldn't be bad.

I guess the Madison Avenue guys know best, but to me most car commercials are completely forgettable.

DarkStar said:

A Nissan Leaf commercial really just needs to be like every other car commercial. If you want an "angle", just show people getting to average everyday locations followed up by a closing shot of them "plugging in" at home.

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Won't work. You are trying to change people's attitudes & behavior - you need to give strong reasons.

Usually - in the case of a ground breaking product like this - all the ads can do is make the people interested enough to find out more information. For that run of the mill ads just won't work ....

DarkStar said:

A Nissan Leaf commercial really just needs to be like every other car commercial. If you want an "angle", just show people getting to average everyday locations followed up by a closing shot of them "plugging in" at home.

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evnow said:

ps : For some reason poeple think Nissan should be cowards and tip toe around real reasons for EVs. I don't agree. Just like they have an ad based on AGW, they should have an ad based on "energy security".

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How about showing someone plugging in at home, and then cut to a war zone in the desert somewhere where a fully-armed Marine gets ready to go on patrol when his headset crackles to life: "Wolfpack1 this is HQ, abort abort abort! Mission no longer necessary."

Fade to black with audio of someone heaving a sigh of relief.

My idea would for "national security" ad would be - a montage of various related pictures with a final shot of Leaf with something like "secure your energy future" or "freedom from foreign oil".

ps : May be even the series of videos of 7 past presidents (like John Stewart showed) talking about energy independence ending with Leaf ...

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-june-16-2010/an-energy-independent-future?xrs=share_copy

evnow said:

My idea would for "national security" ad would be - a montage of various related pictures with a final shot of Leaf with something like "secure your energy future" or "freedom from foreign oil".

ps : May be even the series of videos of 7 past presidents (like John Stewart showed) talking about energy independence ending with Leaf ...

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-june-16-2010/an-energy-independent-future?xrs=share_copy

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How about planes flying into the WTC? Too soon?

LTLFTcomposite said:

How about planes flying into the WTC? Too soon?

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Too soon - just as Katrina victim's dead bodies would be. But a photo of the firefighters with the flag we so after see would be ok.

evnow said:

Won't work. You are trying to change people's attitudes & behavior - you need to give strong reasons.

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That's exactly the problem, the vehicle being electric needs to be an "after-thought". Show them how it's the right sized vehicle and how cheap it is to operate. People look at me really strangely when I tell them the Leaf will be half the price of my previous 2003 Subaru Impreza RS. I ask them how much they pay for gas and their average MPG and put it into a lifetime cost per mile, then I tell them about the lifetime cost per mile of the Leaf.

People are cheap, they want their cars to be safe, and they want to make sure they can get to where they need to go. The advertising formula for vehicles has been going on for over 100 years, there is no reason it needs to be changed just because the fuel is different, the other 95% of the car is exactly the same...