F'd Ad Fridays: When the idea overpowers the brand

It's actually a really cool piece of weird video:



And even the messaging strategy, posted on YouTube, is single-minded:

Not long ago, there was one model of Prius for everyone to share. But now that one Prius has become a family: There's one for everyone. There's the original one, the bigger one, the smaller one and the one that plugs in. They're all a little different, just like us. The Prius Family is growing: Which family member is your favorite? Visit http://www.toyota.com/priusfamily to meet the Prius Family from Toyota.

But when I went back to Ads of The World, to get the video for posting, I had to stop and ponder to recall what brand it was for. I remembered "the one that plugs in". Leaf? Volt? ...Prius! And then I searched "Toyota".

That's always the problem, isn't it? Me, I have an interest in connecting brands with their campaigns. The average consumer does not. And this commercial, like many other high-budget creative orgasms, is memorable for its concept, not its product. Even the messaging strategy of "there are many Priuses (sp?) because there are many types of people" fails to communicate anything of real value about the car itself to a motivated car buyer.

Saatchi & Saatchi LA, though, will get well-deserved props and PR for the creative and production quality. So at least someone wins.