So I was surfing the web earlier, and I came across a banner for a Toyota Corolla with Hatsune Miku on it. I immediately thought it was fake, but clicked it for the hell of it. Sure enough, it was for real; Toyota is using Miku as a gimick to sell this years Corolla.

As I stared at the page in awe, my eyes caught a line towards the middle that I couldn't believe. "Miku will be performing live in LA this blah blah blah blah etc"

I leaned back in my chair, and thought about this. Hatsune Miku? Live? For those who don't know, Miku is a character in a PC software. A software that will vocalize just about any and every audio file you put in it. How, I thought to myself, could a PC program perform a live concert?

Then I found this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTXO7KGHtjI

My jaw just dropped to the floor. What are your thoughts? Would you go to a concert like this? I think I might, to be honest. It's so bizarre that it's actually appealing! lol!

EDIT: Here's the actual ad, http://www.toyota.com/corollamiku/

Someone
The URL contained a malformed video ID.
Sorry about that.

:(

http://www.youtube.com/toyotausa?x=corolla%2Bmiku&refcd=GO000000515968611ytss_miku_toyota&tsacr=GO12097012651

This is the second "commercial" I've seen for this. : / Link might only work in the US though.

It's like they're not even trying to make it appealing to the western market... she's in a /Corolla/ for goodness' sake. But yeah, they could have made the commercial more interesting because right now it looks like they're kind of making fun of Miku. xD; The voiceover in the second commercial doesn't fit at all and it just looks like some B roll of a small car driving around, I would have like to have seen some bright colors or shiny things. That's usually what they do when they try to sell something really Japanese to western audiences, right? lol

The print ads are pretty nice though, I'll give them that.

As for the concert, I've seen a lot of people online get really excited for it... most of them are into Vocaloids, but I would be interested to see it (like NickyP said) because it's so strange! Looks like an interesting way to spend an evening, haha~

thats a nice marketing ploy.

I think Megurine Luka is hotter though. :)

I haven't clicked the link yet, but if there's been Gorillaz concerts, how would this be so surprising?

ozoneocean

Someone
The URL contained a malformed video ID.
Sorry about that.

:(

Sorry about that, I fixed the link. Works now :D

Someone
I haven't clicked the link yet, but if there's been Gorillaz concerts, how would this be so surprising?

Click the link. You'll see.

They're not using Miku to sell Toyota, they're using Miku's US concerts to sell Toyotas. They're sponsoring them.

I've been to a Gorillaz concert and in all honesty, it was pretty good. This probably has better technology at play from the looks of it, so I imagine people will dig this in person. Unless a computer error comes up at the wrong moment, hee hee.

As cool as this is, I'd probably enjoy this more if it wasn't J-pop. Seriously, the stuff is about a notch down from babies crying and car alarms for me.

For your consideration.

also know as the Obligatory Schlock Link.

Chernobog [..] wrote:
As cool as this is, I'd probably enjoy this more if it wasn't J-pop. Seriously, the stuff is about a notch down from babies crying and car alarms for me.

I agree. And I'm making stuff in Utau, Vocaloid's free mutant cousin. Hard not to find Japanese songs to cover that aren't J-pop or J-rock.