Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Toyota: Idiots of the Day

The perils of letting children lead your marketing.

If you thought someone was stalking you, wouldn't you want to buy a Toyota Matrix?

A bizarre "terror marketing campaign" for the vehicle, produced by Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles and creative studio Mekanism, harassed consumers via personalized e-mails. One target is taking Toyota to court.

Last year, Amber Duick received a series of nine e-mails from a fictitious character dreamed up by the campaign (complete with a MySpace page). The character told Amber he was coming to stay at her house to avoid the cops, and even sent her a motel bill for $78.92. According to AdAge, Duick was so frightened that she slept with a machete and mace near her bed.

The last email Duick received included a video that notified her how she had been fooled, and explained that this was an effort to market the Matrix. The campaign, which targeted thousands of consumers, invited people to nominate their friends to be victims of the prank, which is how consumers' personal information was acquired.


Read more here and here

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