 The February 7, 2005 issue of PR Week included an article on Peppercom’s $27 million campaign to promote SUV safety. To kick off their efforts, they introduced a mascot who they called ESUVEE. The firm claims to want to “draw the attention of 18- to 34-year-old men” by using the hairy beast that looks something like a buffalo. He isn’t a cutesy cartoon type by any stretch of the imagination. He’s a foot scraping, macho Beauty and the Beast-type character and he growls too! He’s 16 feet long, 11 feet wide and 10 feet tall. This campaign, which includes many traditional campaign elements, hopes to draw visitors to esuvee.com and teach them something about SUV safety that they didn’t already know.
If you head to the site, you can play an interactive challenge course game. The theme of the site is all about riding an SUV correctly and safely. They use the ESUVEE animal in sort of a bucking bronco, rodeo type setting, while a “cowhand” gives the safety pitch. The beast really gets around. Esuvee visited the Boats, Books, and Brushes festival in New London, CT, in September, accompanied by the Connecticut Attorney General. And the Attorney General GOT some attention. The kickoff news release posted on the Esuvee web site includes this language: “The Campaign highlights critical tips for driving SUVs that can mean the difference between life and death: check your tire pressure monthly, don’t overload your SUV, always wear your seatbelt, try to avoid abrupt maneuvers, and don’t speed. ‘Driving SUVs like ordinary cars invites disaster. Awareness of SUV safety – especially stopping rollovers – can mean survival to countless Americans,’ said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. ‘Smart drivers can save lives with some simple steps: avoid speeding, sudden maneuvers, and overloading. Our education campaign targets young men, who may be most vulnerable and most difficult to reach. If you think this message is hype, look at the numbers – thousands of young Americans killed in rollover crashes every year.’” Not everyone is happy with the campaign. The SUV Owners of America advocacy group thinks the “safety campaign paints an unfair picture of the vehicles.” The huge beast is their nemesis. Micha Lindemans writes that in Greek mythology, “Nemesis is the goddess of divine justice and vengeance. Her anger is directed toward human transgression of the natural, right order of things and of the arrogance causing it. Nemesis pursues the insolent and the wicked with inflexible vengeance…” Nemesis. Encyclopedia Mythica. Retrieved November 09, 2005, from Encyclopedia Mythica Online. But opposition or not, the campaign is making the noise it intended. Run a quick search for ESUVEE in Google or Yahoo and many blogs pop up using words such as “brilliant” and “fantastic.” The word “Esuvee” even made Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. The PR Week article notes that the “integrated effort is funded by settlement money from Ford, which was sued by state two years ago for using dangerous Firestone tires.” It’s a project of the States Attorneys General. Who would have thought an elected job could be so much fun?! |
