Who Cares?

Toyota is trying to rebuild their image with their dedicated to safety. Their new TV commercials state they are spending over $1 million an hour to make their vehicles safer. Great!

What is irking me is their new STAR Safety System. The actual safety system is fine (as far as I know). What bothers me is the line in the commercial that says, “Every car comes with the STAR Safety System.” Why does this bother me you ask? What could be wrong with safety? Nothing is wrong with safety. My point is what in the world is the STAR safety system? Tell me about it. It really gets under my skin when XYZ company advertises that they are the only ones with the XYZ program. Really? I wouldn’t think your competitors would call their internal system after your company. Toyota hasn’t gone so far to say they are the only ones using the STAR system, but they do tiptoe around what the system actually is or how it helps us. We just know it comes on all of the cars, standard. For all we know, this miraculous safety system could be a pillow on the dashboard to protect your head in an accident.

What am I getting at? When you market your company, you should isolate the things that make you different, better, and more valuable. Saying, “We’re the best” does not cut it. Also, if the only thing making you different from your competition is a made up name of a system or program that everyone uses, then you have no reason to get new business. You’re just like the rest of them.