I have to confess I just roll when these commercials come on. They are for a local car dealership group, Johnson Automotive. The spots are the work of the infamous Martin Agency of Richmond,VA, responsible for the Geico campaigns. They feature a "surly badger" as the sales manager at a car dealership, giving customers the stereotypical obnoxious hard-sell. The point of the campaign is to say this is what you won't experience at a Johnson Automotive Group dealership. Watch the commercials here.
P.S. Hey Martin Agency, WHY don't you have these on YouTube? Come ON guys this should be a layup.
New in the Kristasphere: Randy Parton = Randy Watson?
Update: For the backstory on these commercials, see my update post here.
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19 Responses to My Guilty Pleasure: The Badger Commercials
My wife and I love the badger too. The second layup for Martin should be a little search engine optimization. Running a Google search for Johnson Automotive doesn't bring any hits for the company up on the first results page! Only after finding the N&O article did I realize that Johnson Automotive equals Johnson Lexus.
If I Google Geico, the first page is packed with links to Geico...
@Todd: You are right about SEO. Johnson has primarily been known as the only Lexus dealer in the Triangle, so a little SEO help will get people to this campagin.
I want a little badger doll, don't you? With sayings!
Thanks for visiting The Kristasphere!
The badger commercials are brilliant! I was just searching for them online to show my sister, but couldn't find them...but I found your site. :-)
My sister also wants to see "the badger." These commercials are so funny that I held my cell phone to the tv just so that she can hear him speak (she lives in Florida)!!! I think the badger should branch out from cars and just become the mascot of bad customer service!
@anonymous: Yes my family is visiting and they just saw and fell in love with them!
@Sheila: Yes I am hoping they get them on YouTube soon because they are a runaway hit. Same agency that did the Geico commercials. Thanks for posting. Visit again.
You are so right Krista. The surly badger commercials are hilarious and they made me look up Johnson Automotive on google and that's how I found your blog, so they must be doing their job!
My wife and I too love the badger. It is a such a wonderful mascot for bad customer service and the voice is terrific :)
Johnson definitely needs to do some work on their internet presence. I also spent a while trying to find them online only to come to the same conclusions about Johnson Lexus. In this day and age, you simply have to consider such things...
BTW, my alias was chosen before I ever saw one of these commercials :)
I love these commercials just posted 5 of them up on YouTube. Not sure if there are more of them out there are not. This one is my fav:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvoaztR140Q
Just click the "More from this user" link to see the others!
Enjoy!
-Alex
commercials are GREAT! Does anyone know if there are any others from this series that are available online?
I don't think Martin does their website, so the SEO duties would the the responsibility of whomever controls their site.
I recently bought a new car from Johnson Automotive. They all had badger pins on their shirts. I was talking with the manager and told him I work in advertising as an Art Director and loved the badger spots. He told me the full story. Basically Mr. Johnson tried to get in touch with the Martin Agency but couldn't get past the secretary. She said they didn't do car dealer ads. So he hounded the CEO or some other top level person until they would meet with him. I think he ended up calling on a day when the secretary was off. He told the guy he would give him a brand new Lexus just for meeting with him. The guy flew to NC and said he had a few minutes to meet. A few hours later they had reached an agreement. I guess the spots were produced out in California. And from what I hear it wasn't cheap. I've only seen the 5 posted on YouTube but apparently there are about 9 total.
Johnson must have spent their whole budget on the ads.
The Badger should have his own website (with store) by now.
The website address for Johnson Automotive is...
Ta Da!!!
www.nobadgers.com
I would reply longer...but I'm on my popcorn break.
My wife and are huge fans of these commercials.
"Kapowee! You just sold yourself a car!"
I have been an Auto dealer since 1974 and on the internet since 1992
This is the best car commercial I have ever seen! I would love to have permission to use it!
Steve DeLong
Southtown Motors
SMDelon@aol.com
They're finally selling badger dolls!!! They are hysterical! Under $20.00 at any of the dealerships or call 877-662-2343
Ok, here it is! Finally a simple little web page where you can buy official Badger Dolls. You can call the 877-662-2343 or go to www.johnsonbadgergear.com. It's been a long time coming, I'd say.
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