The 2011 Mediocrity is an advertising campaign launched by Subaru of America to represent the blandness of mid-sized sedans. The ad campaign presents a fictitious vehicle that lampoons the American mid-sized sedan market. Without directly attacking any specific automobile manufacturer, the 2011 Mediocrity is a sedan that exemplifies all of the typical and non-surprising features that are found in the marketplace in 2010.
Contents
The Campaign
The 2011 Mediocrity launch is designed to promote the Subaru Legacy. The campaign started with a digital postcard sent out to key industry insiders, which drove them to a website and informed them of the launch date. A Facebook page was created right before launch to help spark conversations about the car. Some cryptic Tweets also went out pre-launch to help generate awareness of a “big event” coming soon. On October 1, 2010 the official website, 2011Mediocrity.com, went live. Three days later, a television campaign (directed by Baker Smith of Harvest Films) broke with a series of spots and rich media. Then, banners and 15 and 30-second video “pre-rolls” were deployed, with all communications directing consumers back to 2011Mediocrity.com. Finally, car shopping sites offered "Expert Reviews" of the car and “Competitive Comparisons” to other cars listed on the sites. The campaign about the car was picked up from bloggers in the automotive industry like Jalopnik, USA Today and AutoGuide.com.
The Car
A first generation Kia Optima was the basic skeleton that was used for the 2011 Mediocrity. Director Baker Smith of Harvest Films then worked closely with West Side Auto in Torrance, California to transform this sedan into an amalgamation of every other car on the road today. Fiberglass was added to strip away lines and transform the body of the sedan. The creative team from advertising agency Carmichael Lynch in Minneapolis, Minnesota carefully chose colors (Medium Crumb/Stale Biscuit) and designed logos, thereby finishing off the design. Production on the campaign began July 21, 2010.