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3-OCT-2024 | Excerpt from Toyota’s “This is not a car” Land Cruiser Ad — 1971

Author

Dan Bogachek
October 03, 2024

Excerpt from Toyota’s “This is not a car” Land Cruiser Ad — 1971

This is not a car.

It’s a 4-wheel drive Toyota Land Cruiser.

Sure you can drive it at top speeds on the highway. Sure your wife can take it to the grocery store. But those are the fringe benefits. They’re not what it was built for.

The Land Cruiser has a straight six, 155 hp engine. Because it serves the purpose. All the torque you need for climbing. Plenty of power for pulling. The Land Cruiser doesn’t overpower you. Or the land you want to preserve.

It’s made of steel, heavily reinforced. Held together by nuts and bolts, rivets and welds. Not by sheet metal screws. There are no large vulnerable panels. All vital parts underneath are protected by skid plates. 🏁

  1. Reframing for identity and novelty. “You don’t want this because it’s a car — no, this is something else entirely.” It’s no longer a contest with other cars. They’ve made it a comparison between what it can do, and how much it costs.
    Play the game by your rules, and you’re guaranteed to win.

  2. Textbook, crispy copy. Grade 2 on the Hemingway App. The average sentence is EIGHT words long.

You glance at your watch.

It’s 6:28. You’ve been at it since 3.
Crap. Your hot date is at 7. Running late. Sink shower it is.
Nowhere close to done editing…

“…at least all the ideas are laid out, so there’s that. Did I miss anything? I don’t think so? Ok, but how do I make it flow? I need to get the final draft to Stacey for design asap, team cutoff is at noon Thursday…”

You’ve spent dinner completely distracted. Your date just took off. You go home exhausted, plod to your desk, and crack open the laptop.

Or… it could go like this:

5:41 — you’re out of the shower and lip-syncing.
6:17 — dressed to the nines and zenned out.
7:03 — the sunset glints off your aviators as you smile hello.
8:36 — it actually feels like you’re hitting it off. Not just hot, funny to boot.
Next morning, 10:27 — polished draft ready in your inbox.
10:31 — Stacey messages back, “thanks, looks good!”

The difference?

You had Copygloss handle it yesterday afternoon.

For help with editing, email Dan:
[email protected].