After giving some more thought to the Mitsubishi television ads from yesterday's rambling, I decided to take the next logical step that interested car buyers in Mitsubishi's target demographic might do after seeing the commercials and wanting to get a car that sings to the hip way in which they view themselves, that makes them want to wake up and drive: I went to their web site.

And that's when Mitsubishi's whole campaign fell apart. I was extremely disappointed with the web site touted on their commercials (mitsubishicars.com). There's no integration between the commercials and the web site (aside from the slogan "Wake Up and Drive"). There's not even a place to view the commercials on the web site (something VW does with much success). It's not edgy. It doesn't sing to me. It doesn't make me groove. It's just a plain gray and white web site, which is designed very well from a stand alone point of view, but just doesn't evoke that same reaction from me that the car commercials do.

This got me to thinking about other mediums for Mitsubishi advertising, specifically their radio ads. You know the guy with the raspy voice that sends the "Wake Up Calls" to people to tell them about Mitsubishi sales events? These commercials actually integrate fairly well with their television commercials: they're edgy and hip and follow the "Wake Up and Drive" campaign. They also appeal to the 18-35 demographic very well. Deutsch LA is the agency responsible for putting these ads together (Eric Springer is the clever and talented copy writer) and they've been very popular, but it's painfully obvious that the agency that puts together the Mitsubishi television commercials and the agency that handles the radio ads and the agency that does the web site are not only different agencies, but apparently they're not all sharing the same marketing plans.

Granted, it's not uncommon for a company to utilize different advertising agencies for various mediums, but it seems like Mitsubishi would realize that the continuity of the experience would be fundamental to the success of the campaign. Given the nature of car buyers to utilize the Internet in their decision making and the targeted demographic of the commercials - which just happens to be the Internet savvy market, this nonintegrated marketing approach leaves me sort of left out to dry. I want the same experience when I visit the web site. I want the rush, I want the music, I want the adrenaline, I want it all. But I don't get it. I get a polished corporate web site, that although looks very nice, does not evoke emotion. It doesn't make me want to wake up and drive.

This is bad because emotion is what sells (think babies, puppies, driving experiences)! The lack of continuity from one medium to the other (remembering after all that the web is just another medium) effectively squelches the entire ad campaign. If the web site can't make me excited about buying or about the idea of driving then the process becomes moot, because it doesn't push me to the next step: visiting the dealer.

Regardless of the discontinuous experience, I still think the campaign can be successful. After all, it's tough to imagine anyone being as happy as the people in the commercials are about driving, say, a Corolla. But there's a big opportunity that's not being taken advantage of through the web site, and that could ultimately affect the bottom line.