I am generally a skeptic towards advertising.  I think most of it is ineffective for the majority people, and some of it is just painful.  This is why advertising has to reach such large numbers: to get any reasonable conversion, they need to be seen by a great many people.

However, this is a great example of targeted marketing:

I’m at the gas pump, I’m paying an arm, a leg, and two more arms (don’t ask where I got them) for gas…you can see that I’m at $22 for 5 gallons of gas.  I see this advertisement, and I have to agree: Yikes!

So what is the solution?  According to this ad, Toyota.  Toyota apparently makes the most fuel efficient cars.  Cool, I didn’t know that.  Isn’t that relevant?

Now if I didn’t already have a Toyota Camry, this would be very intriguing for me.  What if I have an aging Honda that I was thinking about selling?  I might seriously consider a Toyota for my next car…the savings would be tremendous.

Unlike most unfocused, bland, broad advertising, this hits me when it is most effective: when I literally am paying the “yikes” amount for gas.  Nice work, Toyota.