Reaserch

Advertisment 1: "Stories of better" by

Toyota

Note: Some parts of the reaserch are in the script and not in this section, as they were added on later and then re-recoreded. There are also portions i tweaked before recording

For a look at the reaserch as a whole, i recommend reading the script instead.

Audience

Age: content is slower paced compared to ads like super bowl advertisements. It is also selling cars, so it is targeted at adults. (also because you need a driver’s license to drive in most places around the world)

Gender and ethnicity: The advertisement is not gender or ethnicity specific, as it does not mention any specific gender of ethnicity. The voiceover is a male, but i do not think this has any real significance.

Psychographics: This advertisement is aimed at the explorer and the mainstream. I think the advertisement is aimed at the explorer because of the uncommon format (stop motion) format. It also includes phrases like “Every one of our cars has a story to tell” and “better ways to feel the thrill of really being alive. The advertisement is also structured in a way that once the last statement ends, a new one is stated soon after. Including these features could pique the interest of “Explorer” viewers.

I think it is also aimed at the “Mainstream” audience because of multiple factors. First, the mainstream market is by far the largest, meaning that it would reach more of it’s targeted audience base. Second is that Toyota is a largely known “mainstream” brand, meaning that it should already have a large mainstream audience that know of/consider the Toyota cars over unknown brands such as Dacia.

Sexual preference:There is no content regarding this subject within the advertisement.

Demographics: Since toyota sells mostly cheaper cars compared to competitors, I thought the range should be from C2 to B, This is because D and E classes may not be able to afford a car/they may want to spend their money elsewhere.

The prices of the cars in the video:

Land cruiser: $85,415(usd i think)

2000GT: limited production, current price roughly 1.2mil usd

GT86: roughly starting at $26,985

Hybrid series lowest:HKD$219,800( highest: HKD$898,300

Toyota Auris Hybrid: discontinued, price on release started at :US$27,450

Sources: wikipedia and toyota website

After checking the prices in the video, it seems that my initial view on their target demographic was wrong.(average car price in US $37,851) Although many of the cars featured had starting prices that are well within the average car price ranges in US, there were also cars with insane prices such as the 2000GT and the Land cruiser. The 2000GT is not in production anymore so this will not be counted. However, the land cruiser with a price of 85415USD and the most expensive of the Hybrid series(HKD$898,300(USD115,859)), I will include group A within my previous presumed audience demographic (B to C2).

However, I have also looked online for average salaries. My original guess included C2 which has an average annual salary of $31,861. Because of this, i will remove C2 from the demographic range because they will most likely not wish to spend a large majority of their yearly salary on a car. Since C1(lower middle class) should have a yearly salary of USD 41000, deducting household costs, they should be able to save up for the lower-middle end cars by Toyota.

I conclude that this advertisement is aimed at people in the demographic groups A-C.

Hobbies or interests: Explicitly, there are no specific hobbies or interests stated. However, through the visuals we can deduce the type of hobbies/the people they are targeting. In the beginning, the land cruiser is shown going up a mountain(suggested through the color of the paper surface, the angle of the book and the way it is filmed. This part would have been targeting the people who like going off roading on mountains and hills. The next part of the advertisement shows the 2000gt and GT86. The first is an antique, and both are sports cars. On the book/surface, there are parts laid out(doors, wheels, exhaust pipes, etc) This portion of the advertisement targets people who are car collectors (2000gt), or car fanatics/people who like race cars(by showing two of their most well known sports cars). The third portion is aimed at normal people, showing off their Hybrid cars which are typically used by normal people as transportation. The fourth and final portion targets potential investors, showing the Auris; a car they were still in the process of making(as of the creation of the video. Currently(2021 jan) The Auris is a discontinued car model)

Location: This would have been filmed/photographed in a studio over many days. The total video length is 1:11, and excluding the ending and beginning animations(roughly 15 seconds), the stop motion lasts around 56 seconds. The frame rate is 25FPS, so presumably the stop motion would be 1400frames. However, in the areas where the book is not moving much, the hands have noticeably less jiggle. Also, even when the hands are moving, it is often on twos, meaning that each frame is played for two frames meaning that the actual amount of photos/frames should be roughly 700. The voice has an american accent, so i presume the advertisement is from america.

FORM

Discursive: while the voiceover does not directly address any of Toyota’s cars, there is a large emphasis/implied connection between the “stories” and the cars displayed. In the first part, the narrator says “stories of better ways to explore the world”. During this, the original car on the screen becomes the Toyota Land cruiser, associating “Better ways to explore the world” with the Land cruiser. The same is done in the second part with “Stories of better ways to feel the thrill of really being alive” being associated their GT86. Finally, the third does the same, associating “simply a better way to drive” and “Clever” with their Hybrid lineup of cars.

Part of a series of ads?: It is not part of a series. Although Toyota has created other stop motion advertisements, they have a very different tone and cover different topics. As for other videos covering a similar topic, i could not find other videos talking about the history of toyota/it’s notable cars. So i must conclude that Toyota has not created any other advertisement alongside this one as a series

Narrative (tells a story): This advertisement follows an overall narrative. Well, as far as i can tell anyway. The advertisement seems to be going through a timeline of Toyota’s most famous cars(where the toyota corolla tho). However, each period or car is not specifically stated, but after silence for the first few cars, the rest are described in a positive light from a Toyota perspective

Animated or live action: This advertisement is animated. Although it contains a person’s hands throughout, the piece would most likely not have been done in takes or cuts, but rather individual photos with crew on set making sure it looks similar to the previous image/frame. The inconsistencies in the arms/hands could be deliberate, calling attention to the tedious production process(stop motion). Initially, i presumed that this was done with stop motion footage of the subject’s arms holding up an empty book. However the source I got the video from (Link) shows the credits and it included a paper craft head (Mandy Smith). (it is fully stop motion)

STYLE

Serious or Relaxed

While not talking about subjects like the global warming or other serious subjects, the format it is made in is not particularly humorous or dramatic, simply using the simple structure going throughout the video(timeline of Toyota’s famous cars(excluding many of course) with a voiceover trying to get the audience to associate the words spoken with the cars on the screen. However, the choice to keep things simple/calm/serious(and a bit slow) was most likely due to their time constraint(the shooting was limited to one week.

Nostalgia Elements

There are slight nostalgic parts that older viewers would have picked up. The advertisement featured the 2000GT, a car that finished production in the 1970s. The design is iconic/resembles many other cars produced in the time period.

Solution to a problem

The advertisement’s concept sort of relies on this idea. Before the statement, it shows either an outdated or non-toyota car, says something like “stories of improving/better, etc” and then shows the toyota/modern day toyota model. This leads the audience to view the structure of the advertisement and by the end, they will expect old/presumably worse car, statement from voiceover, and then the transition to the new/presumably better car.

Overt/Covert marketing

While the first advert doesn't directly tell the audience to buy their cars, by repeating the same format of old or competitor’s car and then showing the “better” Toyota car, they are heavily implying that Toyota cars are superior and that viewers should buy them instead.

TECHNIQUE

Exaggeration

Exaggeration used to an extent. While they dont state any outrageous claims, they are claiming to be better than their competitors, which may not necessarily be true.

Music

They also use background music with a bouncy vibe. The music has a positive feel compared to the dramatic music used in the unicef advertisement.

Repitition

throughout the duration of the video, the audience is shown a repeating structure. I talked about this in “solution to a problem”. I personally think that it is quite effective.

Exciting or uncommon editing

By using a less common format(stop motion), they will automatically have the audience’s attention for longer than a typical live action one. However the slow pacing will kind of ruin this, as although they may be interested by the visuals, the advertisement pacing is so slow that many viewers would have changed the channel/video before watching the entire advertisement.

Packshot

At the beginning and end of the advertisement, packshots of many Toyota cars were displayed.(as well as the Toyota logo which is most likely the main thing they want the audience to see/remember

CONSTRUCTION

Camera movement/angles/framing etc

throughout the video, there is a single shot. Which is top down until halfway where it shifts to be less vertical.

Editing

this was all one “shot”, so not much editing would be needed. However, each image would have to be planned in advance to a great extent.

Lighting

from what I can tell, they are using a 1 point heavily diffused light. At first i thought it was a 2 or 3 point lighting setup because of the shadows from the “BETTER”, However, this wasnt the case.

Graphics/Special Effects

there are no digital effects, and all of it is done practically with paper cutouts. Mandy smith: the head of paper craft, and her team would have created the paper for every frame, and then positioned it before taking the photo.

AIDA

Attention/Intrest

attention and intrest is maintained through the unique(well not really but i dont think ive seen any advertisements that use stop motion in recent years. However Hong kong and the US would have very different movies, TV series and advertisements so this may not be the case.)and colorful visuals, along with practical effects.

Desire

It would make most people want toyota cars, but overall the effect would not be large. Even the audience members would most likely not notice it since on the first watch i could not tell what was going on. However, by comparing and pushing the other car brands/older toyota cars below Toyota(by constantly saying the “etc better etc” when toyota cars are shown, they will metaphorically move up the ranks of the car brands in the viewer’s mind.

Action

the audience is not told to take action directly.

Regulations

It was advertised by Saatchi&Saatchi. Saatchi&Saatchi is a private advertising agency in the UK, and thus the advertisement is required to follow the regulations set by the advertising standards authority, the primary regulatory body in the UK.

Overall, this advertisement is incredibly unlikely to breach any of the regulations. No particularly provocative claims or visuals are shown, and the audience. In particular, none of the motor advertising regulations were broken by the commercial. Along with that, although suggestions were made, no false evidence or facts regarding the quality of cars were given, and thus does not fall under the misleading side either. Basically as far as i can tell, it has not breached any of the regulations posed by the ASA and CAP