Bosch has come out with some new green TV spots for their BSH Home Appliances to push its environmentally friendly major appliances. This is the broadcast component in a rebranding for the company started earlier this year that uses a tree-frog icon for its green products.

The new campaign extends that brand imagery with TV ads that end with their new tagline, “Invented for life.” These two spots show an owl and a deer quietly approaching and communing with a Bosch appliance placed out in a stark natural environment, emphasizing how they help preserve nature–and don’t disturb it either, when they are operating. While most will miss the idea that this means they don’t harm nature because they use less energy and therefore create less harmful emissions, the average viewer will simply associate the company with being “friendly to nature”. That’s the goal here. And perhaps a bit heavy handed–unbelievable even, dare I say? For a better job of emotionally engaging consumers with the whole “brand-communing-with-nature” thing, see GE’s Ecomagination spot with the dancing elephant. It has a magical quality to it, even if it is far fetched. But far fetched is what people like, as long as there is a some magic. I’m missing the magic here.

Interesting that Bosch would basically re-use an idea for their new tag line that already seems well-worn. Volvo introduced “For Life” to communicate safety with their brand several years ago. Now, it’s not an uncommon tagline used to communicate a company’s committment to (fill in the blank) + their commitment to social responsibility. Most recently Safeway uses, “Ingredients For Life”. Regionally, in the Northwest, there is The Environmental Home Center, which uses “Building Materials for Life”. On quick review we counted about 30 or so different companies using this idea. It’s only a matter of time before we see “Get Out The Gray for Life”.

Seems like the brand is missing an opportunity here to really connect with consumers and present a meaningful and emotional sell.