#OrchidsandOnions: Toyota challenges the bakkie label with Hilux’s enduring legacy

Hilux depends on brand loyalty

That’s what the newest ad for the Hilux capitalises on, somewhat cheekily stealing the Jeep’s history, considering that for many years, ordinary people around the world would describe a 4x4 vehicle as a Jeep. 

Toyota now reckons that you shouldn’t say bakkie, you should say Hilux.

We see a grandfather driving his old and battered, but dependable, Hilux into town to look for a present for his grandson’s birthday. 

He looks at all manner of clever, modern toys from Transformers to racing machines, but nothing quite fits.

So, he shrugs his shoulders, gets back into the Hilux and goes back to his workshop to “maak ‘n plan”, in true South African style.

Over days and nights, he works with wood and bits of rubber, often going to bed long after his wife is already in dreamland.

Finally, the day dawns and his grandson arrives with his parents (in a Toyota RAV-4, of course). 

After he blows out the candles, Grandpa presents him with a solid carved wooden Hilux.

“Wow!,” says his mom. “Grandpa gave you a bakkie!”

He responds, in the way only a child can when dealing with a dimwit elder: “It’s not a bakkie, Mom. It’s a Hilux!”

That line sums up the product and the loyalty its legions of fans here in South Africa feel for the brand.

You don’t really need to say anything else, apart from the fact you know this toy won’t ever break either, no matter how badly abused it gets.

Classic, old-school reliable advertising, too. 

Does the job. 

And further burnishes the Hilux’s reputation.

And Orchid – yet again – to Toyota for another great local ad.

Ackermans uses AI to promote the Baby of the Year competition

I am so tired of hearing about how AI is going to change our world. 

I know it will, but I can’t help but think that, in creative terms, it is a crutch for the talent-less.

So, I took an initially jaundiced view of Retroviral’s new spot for Ackermans retail stores.

The AI, in this case, is just a play on words, standing for Ackermans Intelligence, which is used to supposedly translate the burblings and squeakings of toddlers into intelligible English.

The kids they use are, as all toddlers are, cute beyond belief. 

And they are so naturally cheeky in the way they respond to the host’s questions. 

The concept of “kids say the darndest things” is not new – nor is the danger that any adult can be upstaged by the cuteness.

The host is, indeed, upstaged, but then that’s what we expected – and there are a few chuckles along the way.

It all paves the way to promote Ackermans' annual Baby of the Year competition, which the host is effectively ordered by the kids to explain how to enter.

It’s a clever call to action for proud parents (and grandparents) because it removes the formality of the process of entering. 

And kids, of course, are all about fun.

Nice one, Ackermans. Nice one Retroviral. Orchids for you both.

The Sunday Times crosses over to the dark side

People are forever complaining that the “mainstream media” are losing their credibility. 

However, as I pointed out in a newspaper column I wrote recently, if you think we’re bad, then you have no idea about the horrors that will flow out of “citizen journalism” and social media. 

You’ll miss us when we’re gone.

However, “legacy media” don’t do themselves any favour by blurring the line between editorials and advertorials or, in the case of 702 Radio, dispensing with the distinction entirely.

I would have expected better from the Sunday Times, frankly. 

However, it has been pushing the blurring for some months.

AI and toddlers bring Ackermans' new Baby of the Year competition campaign to life

16 Oct 2024

The accepted rules for advertorials in a print newspaper are that any copy should be in a different style and font from that of the paper’s normal news or feature articles and that the whole unit must be marked clearly as advertorial. 

This is so that readers know that what they are reading has been paid for and is, therefore, not unbiased reporting.

This past weekend, the Sunday Times crossed entirely over to the dark side, selling what was left of its soul to the ad business, by running a full-page spread for African Bank, which looked exactly like a run-of-paper story.

Eventually, that conduct will leave you with no credibility as a news source and when you have no credibility as a news source, nobody will want to place adverts – or even advertorials – on your pages.

That is a brand fail – and a brand fail will always get an Onion from me.