With just weeks to go by, a nail biting countdown has begun over the new Superbowl commercials! The big enterprises are geared up once again to spellbind the world with their power-packed ad-campaigns. For the businesses, Superbowl ads provide one of the best platforms for showcasing their product excellence while for consumers Superbowl ads mean some exciting works of the brainstorming of some of the best creative brains of the nation! No wonder then, the Biggies like Toyota or Honda will attempt to cash on the huge business potential of this event that fetches an enormous T.V viewership.

The Honda was reported to buy a total of one minute of airtime. It will make it poorer by almost $5.2 million. But of course it is the company that makes business…not us and so we just can make wild speculations about how many more millions will be added to their annual profits.

The two 15-second ads from the “Gil, The Crab” campaign are believed to be pitted against the arc-rival Toyota. The ads are designed to tout Honda as the most fuel-efficient hybrid car in the USA. The ad is going to glorify the fact that Honda’s CAFE average rating is higher than rival Toyota. Honda will run two ads for the Element SUV, and their aim is to end the monopoly of Toyota Prius as the most eco-friendly and fuel efficient hybrid cars currently available in the USA.

Honda has the credit of selling top 10 best hybrids of 2006, up its sleeve and so they rightly deserve all attentions during the Big Event of Superbowl. As for us, watching the ad-fighting among the rival brands is as exciting as the game itself! The thirty seconds Honda ads are sure to bring the heady concoction of fun and creativity for the viewers while striking the right chord for the targeted consumers.

The EMA Awards, an event to promote environmental awareness, took place on November 8th and was presented by Toyota and Lexus.  Attendees included Col. Buzz Aldrin, Ed Begley, Jr., Flea, Daryl Hannah, Anthony Kiedis, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Graham Nash, Rob Schneider, David Spade, Jeffrey Tambor, and Robert Wagner.  Toyota had issued the following press release with information on the event:

Photo: Julia Lewis Dreyfus at EMA.

Toyota and Lexus Salute ‘Green’ Celebrities at the 16th Annual Environmental Media Awards

TORRANCE, Calif., Nov. 8 /PRNewswire/ — Toyota and Lexus are proud to
be Presenting Sponsors of the Environmental Media Awards. This star-studded
gala event recognizes the creative teams behind television, film and music
productions that raise public awareness of environmental issues by
incorporating positive environmental messages in their work. Previous
honorees include Daryl Hannah, Edward Norton, and Cameron Diaz, and
programs such as Grey’s Anatomy, The Simpsons, and Lilo & Stitch.

“Entertainment is a potent vehicle for raising awareness of
environmental issues,” said Dian Ogilvie, senior vice president and chief
environmental officer of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. “The creative
teams who are honored with an Environmental Media Award are inspiring
people to think and act in ways that benefit our planet.”

Toyota, the world leader in hybrid technology, also provides a way for
people to act through an everyday choice: the vehicle they drive. Toyota
and Lexus combined offer five hybrid models in the United States in the
mid-sized sedan, SUV and sports car segments. In all, Toyota’s hybrid
vehicles have saved over 150 million gallons of gas in the United States,
and avoided more than 3 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions. Hybrid
sales are led by the Prius, which topped 500,000 worldwide in April. This
year alone, Toyota will sell more than 100,000 Prius in the U.S., which
features Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive.

Hybrid Synergy Drive is also featured on the Highlander Hybrid and the
Camry Hybrid which debuted in April. Both hybrids are over 70% percent
cleaner for smog-forming emissions than the average new vehicle on the
road. Camry Hybrids are built at Toyota’s manufacturing facility in
Georgetown Kentucky, Toyota’s first hybrid to be built in the U.S.

Last year, Lexus introduced the RX 400h, the world’s first luxury
hybrid. The RX 400h combines luxury, performance and cleaner emissions in a
sleek package. In April, Lexus launched the GS 450h hybrid luxury sports
sedan, the world’s first front-engine, rear-wheel full hybrid.

“Worldwide, Toyota plans to offer hybrid engines in many of our
products and we’ve set a goal of one million hybrids by 2010,” said Dian
Ogilvie. “We’ve made a very big commitment to this technology because it
gives people a way to drive what they want, but produce fewer emissions and
get higher fuel mileage at the same time.”

Toyota’s commitment to the environment goes beyond the hybrid story.
The company’s initiatives in North America include: recycling, reducing
landfill waste, conserving natural resources, using renewable energy, and
nurturing strong partnerships with organizations like the U.S. National
Parks Service, National Public Lands Day, National Arbor Day Foundation,
Audubon Society the American Lung Association, and EMA.

The Environmental Media Association is a non-profit created in 1989 by
producers Norman Lear and Alan Horn and their wives Lyn Lear and Cindy
Horn. EMA is guided by top Hollywood talents and leading environmentalists.
Proceeds from the EMA Awards secure the future of the organization and its
work within the entertainment industry to encourage TV and film producers
to weave environmental messages into scripts as well as utilizing
celebrities as role models.

Public Web site: http://www.toyota.com

 

Film winners this year were “Hoot,” “Ice Age: The Meltdown,” and “Syriana” and documentary winners were “An Inconvenient Truth,” “Too Hot Not To Handle,” and “Who Killed The Electric Car?“

ZAP, an electric car distributor, is implementing a new tree-planting program.  For every electric car they sell, they will plant one tree in China.  They hope to have 1 million trees planted by 2010.  To kick off the initiative, they opened an auto show last weekend by planting a friendship tree in China and a sister tree in San Francisco.  Ed Asner was to be at the San Francisco Auto Show but coudn’t make it.