Matchbox
Everyone always says “Sex sells”, but in this case come on! You are advertising a kids toy, in this case little cars. Let’s look at the target market for Matchbox? Wouldn’t you say the ages between 4 - 12? What do the girls have to do with anything? I guess what they are trying to do is show the girls as car models? This makes no sense at all.
I really don’t like this idea/concept at all, because it could work with any product. Put a hot girl in the ad with the product, and you got an ad. This one comes from one of the more creative german agencies Jung von Matt, but I gotta say that these must be some of the weakest ads I have seen from them.
AdCritic writes the following:
According to Hamburg agency Jung von Matt, “The Matchbox cars are so authentic that the cliched “women and cars” concept still works. “It no doubt works for little boys, too, but they’re not the target; “the core market is the collectors community of adult men who love model cars and who also love the great freedom and the aesthetics involved in muscle car culture.”
Found these ads at the AdHunt Blog, through Colorobis.
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January 11th, 2006 at 2:04 pm
I am pretty sure these ads are for Cars and Boxes, a website for vintage Matchox Box Car collectors, at least that is where the web address www.cars-and-boxes.de (at the top right of the ad) takes you. So, I’m not sure how far off the target they really are.
And normally I would agree with you, that using sex to sell is too easy, but I kind of like how they are playing with the stereotype of the hot models posing on the hoods of muscle cars. I thought they were pretty funny - and had a new twist on the old sex sells idea.
January 11th, 2006 at 2:10 pm
I think that you it didnt catch the visual concept of the ad, freddy. You knows those hot girls who show off the cars during the automobiles fairs like Detroit, Munich and other? Then, it is this, but made with matchbox.
January 11th, 2006 at 2:13 pm
you make a good point, but i still don’t like the sexy women approach. Play on something with “collectible”. These ads don’t really say anything about the product, and the girls look like porn stars and not the models you would usually see on collectable cars.
i donno… im not feeling these at all.
January 11th, 2006 at 3:38 pm
Collectors would rather collect bigger models of cars, and not the small versions.
Upon what expertise are you basing this comment? I’m no expert myself, but I’ve always been under the impression that Matchbox cars are highly collectible, moreso than any Revell models or similar toys.
I’ve never been a fan of the “sexy dames” marketing approach, but I see this more as a silly, tongue-in-cheek parody of the “hot chick on the hood of a car” calendar shots.
January 11th, 2006 at 3:55 pm
i love these ads.
yeah, they’re inappropriate for their target market, who i firmly believe is boys under 8 years old, i still think they have a great concept.
i think they’re hilarious and i wish i had thought of them.
January 11th, 2006 at 4:04 pm
Im not a collector myself, but i do know a couple of people who collect them. They are usuaully bigger than the size of the cars in the ads.
I think it would have been funnier if they would have used bigger cars with dolls posing on them like barbies etc.
I think it would have worked better if it was Revell, becuase Matchbox is more for kids.
January 11th, 2006 at 5:44 pm
dolls posing on the toy cars would be a great idea.
January 11th, 2006 at 9:49 pm
i think these are fine ads. i immediately understood their target market and could see the appeal/humor behind these. if i collected model cars, i think these ads would stick out in my head.
January 12th, 2006 at 4:03 am
OMG!… great great photo.. nice post too. Keep it up.
January 12th, 2006 at 4:14 pm
Regardless of whether they’re “appropriate” to the target market or not, one obvious flaw of the campaign is that the mini cars are entirely lost in the image. It took me a while to notice the toy cars in the picture.
I agree with a previous poster that this would work a lot better of you use dolls, even ones that are dressed andposed similarily, in this campaign.
January 13th, 2006 at 4:44 pm
In a magazine they are not lost in the image. This is an Magazine Ad, remeber?
Dools? Good Idea, can be done for kids target.
Real and hot womans? Good Idea too, work on adults.
February 7th, 2006 at 6:24 pm
[…] Y no es la canción de Prefab Sprout de lo que quiero hablar. De la misma web que os hablaba ayer rescato una campaña maravillosa. Os acordáis de la marca de coches de miniatura matchbox? Eran los competidores foráneos de Guisval (no confundir con Bisbal). Pues bien, la campaña publicitaria que han realizado no tiene desperdicio. Jugando con el tópico de que siempre hay una chica guapa y ligera de ropa encima de un coche para venderlo… Juzguen ustedes mismos. […]
March 9th, 2006 at 12:30 am
I think it’s pretty funny, but probably not very effective in this case.
August 27th, 2007 at 10:32 am
I personally love vintage toys. It’s fun finding the toys you had as a kid, or the ones you always wanted.
August 28th, 2007 at 8:43 am
I love anything vintage, especially old toys and cars.