NEW YORK: As far as advertising campaigns go, it’s not rare for ad agencies to do anything they can to be related. After all in these days it is not easy to stand out. But in the newest campaign for the Toyota Camry the automaker calls the car “Bold” in its ads, a rising buzz word in the industry. Problem is, it looks almost identical to our BoldRide.
A few readers brought this to our attention a number of times, and the similarities are strikingly similar. The question here is: did Toyota blatantly rip us off?
For the record, BoldRide.com and its marks were trademarked over four years ago. This new campaign for the Camry was only introduced this year. As one of the fastest growing enthusiast websites, we’re known for celebrating and editorializing cars that are bold. Cars that defy convention. Cars that are unique and imaginative.
So it wouldn’t be any surprise that an automaker would try to associate its car with the word bold in an opportunity to capitalize on the equity of how BoldRide communicates in the marketplace. Whether the Camry even deserves that description is another conversation entirely.
When this was brought to our attention, we were astounded by how similar the Camry ads looked to our branding. Did you notice how the word ‘BOLD’ is written in a similar typeface with the words next to it lighter? Just like our logo. Obviously we aren’t going to go all CSI and claim it’s the exact same font, but the striking resemblance is definitely something to think about.
