There are good slogans, there are bad slogans, and then there are slogans that, God help them, just don't make a lick of sense. See if you can figure out which one of these the following ad uses.
Technically, the slogan is "Have fun out there," which is fine if wholly uninspiring. But of course what I'm referring to is "the new all Jeep Liberty." Hey, it's like "all new," but backwards! Ha ha ha! That's so awesome! Hey, Jeep, guess what? Every model you make is "all Jeep." That's the fucking name of your brand. It's not like the Wrangler was cobbled together from spare parts found in a junkyard. It's just nonsense, with the added bonus that it's nowhere near as clever as Jeep clearly thinks it is.
The ad itself isn't much better. What is the one thing everyone knows about Jeeps? That they have good off-road capability. So what are you getting out of intentionally interrupting your discussion of the other features (pretending it was an accident, wakka wakka!) to just show that it can go off-road? Also, commercial voice-overs aren't done live. Also, I think I'm pretty well-established as hating ads that time-waste like this in lieu of saying much of anything about the product. Hey, how about ten seconds of empty road while the voice-over guy stutters? That'll get the word out!
[Jeep exits the road again]
Voice-over: *sigh* "You gotta be kidding."
Yeah, what are the odds that a Jeep - known for going off-road! - would drive off the road? Especially in an ad for a Jeep! Maybe it's just me, but I fail to see how it's good marketing to act surprised when your product works like it's supposed to. I'll buy "Check out how Jeep goes off-road," but you're really testing my patience when you run with "Wait, Jeeps go off-road? How did we, the makers of Jeep, not realize that?" We all know that's what they do. Maybe instead of jokily cutting off the description of the car's interior, you might actually want to use that, given that that is what would actually distinguish your product from competing brands like Land Rover and Hummer. Crazy, I know.
I can see where they're going: a Jeep is a rugged, off-roading vehicle that's tough and doesn't quit. It's 100% genuine, "all-man" -- "all Jeep." But it still sounds like the announcer flubbed the line and meant to say "All new Jeep."
ReplyDeleteIt just doesn't work. And it's not unique to this ad, sadly, it's part of the campaign.