Last November, Toyota Motor Europe selected The&Partnership as its lead agency, with the WPP shop forming a dedicated &TOYOTA hub to service the client. In July, the agency hired Andre Moreira to lead the unit as executive creative director.
Now The&Partnership has launched its first campaign for Toyota Motor Europe, with an effort celebrating the company’s hybrid vehicles.
The 60-second anthem ad, “We Choose Hybrid,” opens with an open road in the countryside, before shifting its attention to a group of individuals who are presumably hybrid drivers. “You’ll find us in the country,” begins the voiceover, “in the city.”
“Living for work, for the weekend,” it continues as Toyota’s vehicles make a first appearance, in a variety of locations, “making choices, moving forward.”
The spot continues, championing Toyota’s hybrid cars and celebrating over ten million hybrid drivers before naming the things hybrid drivers “choose,” which leads into the tagline.
Among those: “power,” “beauty,” and “progress.”
As a longtime leader in the hybrid category, it’s perhaps not surprising that The&Partnership’s first work for the client should celebrate Toyota’s hybrid offerings. The anthem ad doesn’t do much to surprise or shake up the category, but it should appeal to those already hybrid-friendly while alluding to benefits of driving a hybrid (both personal and ecological) for those who have yet to make the switch. With over ten million hybrid drivers out there, at least a few of them are presumably looking for their next one, right?
The broadcast spot kicks off a campaign which will also include “150 pieces of brand-led, product-led and educational digital content,” according to a press release, as well as print and OOH initiatives. Launching in France, Italy, Sweden and Norway this month, the campaign will roll out to Germany and the U.K. in October.
“Our data showed that most drivers still have a limited understanding of the benefits offered by hybrid technology, and that there were significant misconceptions about the people who choose hybrid vehicles (no, they’re not all tree-huggers),” Moreira said in a statement. “The ‘We Choose Hybrid’ platform aims to remove those misconceptions by celebrating the 10 million progressive drivers who already made that Hybrid choice.”
“This first project for Toyota is a great example of our integrated model in action. Working as one team, we used audience decision data to inform not just the media strategy but also the creative development, ensuring the right assets got produced in the first place,” added Dan Whitmarsh, global chief strategy officer at The&Partnership media agency m/SIX. “As ‘We Choose Hybrid’ rolls out across Europe, Toyota can be confident not just of having the best possible targeting and optimisation, but also that its platform of more than 150 pieces of content has the answers to all the questions people care about.”
Credits:
Brand: Toyota Motor Europe
Clients: Jan Verhaegen, Brand & Marketing Communications
Manager & Dario Giustini, Senior Manager, Brand & Communications
Agency Network: The&Partnership
Executive Creative Director: Andre Moreira
Creative Directors: Phil Beamount & Dominic Gettins
Creatives: Michael Eichler, Sam Bishop
Planner: Simon Ringshall
Executive Producer: James Miller
Producer: Alex Rofaila
Production Assistant: Dale Chapman
Business Director: Ildut Loarer
Account Director: Stefano Della Schiava
Production Company: Merman Films
Director: The Malloys
Directors of Photography: Luke Jacobs, Tony Brown
Editing: Paul O’Reilly, STITCH Editing
Post-Production and Visual Effects: Barny Wright, Big Buoy
Audio: 750mph
Voiceover: Michael Shelford