This weekend marked the debut of the first campaign created by Japanese automotive manufacturer Toyota's bespoke, multicultural marketing team, Toyota Total. The first two ads of the campaign, which is called “One Bold Choice Leads to Another" and pushes the new 2015 Toyota Camry, aired during last night's “Sunday Night Football” telecast on NBC in the US. The campaign, which Toyota said is aimed at the "transcultural mainstream," will be running through until March next year.
The Toyota Total team is comprised of five advertising agencies, uniting all of the brand's marketing initiatives under one banner.
The team is comprised of five advertising agencies (Toyota's agency of record, Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles, plus Burrell Communications, Conill, InterTrend Communications and Zenith), uniting all of the brand's marketing initiatives under one banner. The Camry is a car with real multicultural heft, with the automakers claiming it is not only the best selling car in North America, but is also the best selling amongst Hispanics, Asian-Americans and African-Americans. Indeed, the Camry has been the top-selling car in the country for more than a decade, with sales continuing to rise year-on-year. Over 330,000 Camrys have been sold this year already, an increase of 5% from last year.
Examining the 2015 Toyota Camry
Six spots will be airing between now and March 2015 alongside various print and radio elements and multiple interactive and experiential programs that will market the car to more specific audiences than the vast, catch-all audience that will have tuned into NBC last night. These include a social-media orientated push, which will see a chef visiting various restaurants across the US and sharing recipes with fans, who will, in turn, share their own. One upcoming spot includes sponsorship of the DramaFever Awards, an awards ceremony held by the international video-streaming site, that specialises in international shows such as South Korean teenage dramas and Spanish-language telenovelas. As well as sponsoring the awards themselves, Camry will also be sponsoring their own award at the ceremony, the “Bold and Beautiful” award. The first ad, entitled simply “Guitar,” features blues legend BB King, and can be viewed above.
One upcoming spot includes sponsorship of the DramaFever Awards, an awards ceremony held by the international video-streaming site, that specialises in international shows
Previous Camry campaigns tended to focus on the idea of defying people's expectations of a car seen by many as quite bland and unexciting. The new ads will buck the trend, however, positing the Camry as a bold, but reliable decision for consumers, as typified by the tagline “One Bold Choice Leads to Another.” It's not the first time an agency have thought outside the box when it comes to the Camry, however. Last year, Saatchi 7 Saatchi LA created a special stunt course at the Six Flags theme park in California and drove guests through it at high speeds in a Camry, underlining the fact that the car is far from the reliable, but unexciting choice.
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and musician from Kidderminster in the UK who thinks the 2015 Camry looks like pure automotive sex. Especially in red.
