There! I did it! I used the word Microsite 3 times today. How annoying is that?
Okay, now that I got that out of way...Automotive News ran an article about the pairing of Toyota's Yaris and Prison Break. The article referred to the forthcoming 16 page Prison Break pullout in TV Guide and how Toyota has attached onto the whole scene with topical advertising. Featured in the pullout is a Prison Break inspired tattoo that shows a Yaris. In addition there is the microsite that has "Mobisodes." The Yaris/Prison Break partnership has been going on for some time as I found an April 2006 press release talking about the partnership.
I have to say that I don't find all of this particularly newsworthy, but I thought I might use the occasion to a) use the word microsite and b) talk about the automotive tie ins that I've seen this fall. There's the Nerd Herd Yaris on Chuck and NBC's promotion of the Rogue during premiere week. I'm sure that there were tons more that I missed.
One particularly annoying product placement was the VW Jetta on this season's Rescue Me. The Jetta was first seen in an accident, but then the next week they were talking about how safe the Jetta was and finally Dennis Leary swapped his impounded Escalade for a Jetta for his daughter. Please. How about the time Tony Soprano gave his son an Xterra? Suddenly Tony starts talking about all of the Xterra's features like they were in a showroom. It's just so disjointed when heretofore "tough guy" characters suddenly put on the smile and start talking about the benefits of a particular car.
With the advent of DVR's and skipping through commercials I suppose we can expect even more built in advertising as marketers look to recapture our attention.
Personally I still prefer an entertaining commercial to a sly marketing tie in.
Can't resist? You can check out the Yaris/Prison Break site here.
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