• NEWS
    • Agencies
    • Brand Marketing
    • Creativity
    • Digital
    • Programmatic
    • TV / Video
    • FEATURED
    • Challenger Brands
    • Inside the Brand
    • Ad of the Day
    • CES
    • Sponsored
  • EVENTS
    • FEATURED
      • Elevate AI 2019
      • March 21, 2019
        New York
    • COMING SOON
    • Adweek Media All-Stars
    • Fastest-Growing Agencies
    • View All Events
  • WEBINARS
    • FEATURED
      • The Front Line of Customer Experience
      • Tue, Feb 19, 2019
        1 PM EST
    • COMING SOON
    • CMO Tenure Data Is the Secret to Agency Business Development
    • The Definitive Approach to Advanced Media Measurement
    • View All Webinars
  • CONNECT
    • Media Kit
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Agency Memberships
    • Group Subscriptions
    • Newsletters
    • Contact Us
    • ADVERTISE WITH US
    • Brand Awareness
    • Thought Leadership
    • Lead Generation
    • ADWEEK NETWORK
    • AgencySpy
    • MarketerMoves​
    • Social Pro Daily​
    • TVNewser
    • TVSpy
  • ADWEEK JOBS
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • CURRENT OFFER
    • Unlimited Job Postings
My Account Log Out Sign In Subscribe

Marketing Innovation

Toyota Is Betting Big on the Olympics With 7 New Pieces of Creative for Its First Global Campaign

A look at the brand's marketing strategy for the Winter Games

By Katie Richards
|
February 9, 2018
Inside the brand's seven Olympic ads.
Toyota
Share
By Katie Richards
|
February 9, 2018
Share

Toyota’s marketing team is off to a strong start in 2018. The brand announced earlier this week that it would have seven new ads running throughout the Olympic and Paralympic games (immediately following three new ads that ran during the Super Bowl). This particular push is also significant in that it is Toyota’s first global campaign.

While one spot, “Thin Ice,” has already been released, Toyota dropped the remaining six spots today. Each one is part of the larger “Start Your Impossible” campaign for the Olympics. It includes a total of 10 spots. The mission for these ads is to spread the brand’s message that every person, in every part of the globe, should have the “freedom of movement.”

The creative end of the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic campaign for Toyota has been in the works for over two and a half years, according to Saatchi & Saatchi executive creative director Fabio Costa. Saatchi & Saatchi worked on the Super Bowl and Olympic spots alongside Dentsu.

Costa said that the campaign needed to not only highlight Toyota’s partnership with the Olympics, but also the fact that Toyota has evolved from an automotive company to a mobility company. “Our job from a marketing standpoint was to find a potential tagline to unite the world,” Costa explained. “This is the very first time, for Toyota, that one campaign, one tagline, united every single region, every single Toyota around the world.”

The spots are divided into two buckets—one focused on inspiration, the other on evidence. “Inspiration is where we align in our values as a company, Toyota, with the shared values of athletes, Olympians and Paralympians through universal stories,” Costa said.

The brand’s Super Bowl ad starring Paralympic skier Lauren Woolstencroft, “Good Odds,” falls into the bucket, as well as Ashley Wagner’s poetic “Thin Ice” spot. Two new ads, “Runner” and “Dreams,” also fit nicely into the inspiration side of the equation.

This marks Toyota’s first year in its eighth-year partnership with The International Olympic and Paralympic Committees, and for the brand, it was the perfect time to, “support our commitment in extending the freedom of mobility for all—no matter their circumstance, location or ability,” said Chris Schultz, general manager, Olympic/Paralympic marketing, Toyota Motor North America. “Toyota believes that mobility goes beyond cars. It is about enabling everyone the freedom of movement.”

“When it comes to finding those stories, there was a massive team of relentless creatives and strategists just digging deep and trying to find mobility stories that had Olympians and Paralympians and people that have experienced that in their life and how many difficulties they had to face,” Costa said. “Then we show the flip side, which is the success. Once faced with that hardship, how much they broke through it and came out stronger on the other side.”

The “evidence bucket” highlights products: the latest technology and mobility products that Toyota has developed or is in the process of developing, from new cars to wheelchairs.

“‘Start Your Impossible’ is rooted in the word ‘kaizen,’ the Japanese word for continuous improvement, [which is] central to Toyota’s values. With this campaign, we hope consumers connect with the notion that when you are free to move, anything is possible,” Schultz said.

Viewers of the Olympics will also see some six-second spots from Toyota during the games. NBC announced earlier in the week that Toyota will be the exclusive partner of six-second ads for the Winter Games.

Share
http://adweek.it/2Edeohf
Katie Richards

Katie Richards

@ktjrichards
Katie Richards is a staff writer for Adweek.

Popular Now

  • 1
    Subaru Highlights the Joys, Anxieties and Lifelong Memories of Owning a Forester
  • 2
    10 Royalty-Free Music Sites Every Online Video Creator Should Know
  • 3
    Lee Clow Announces Retirement and Looks Back on a Career That Helped Define Advertising
  • 4
    Facebook: Here’s How to Remove Posts From Your Timeline in Bulk
  • 5
    Timeline: Lee Clow’s 50 Years in Advertising

Featured Jobs

Account Strategist
Warehouse Twenty One, Inc.
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Vice President, Brand and Consumer Marketing
NFL
New York, New York
New Business Sales Executive
Thomson Reuters
New York, New York
Account Manager
Mammoth Advertising
new york, New York
School Marketing Director
GoNoodle, Inc.
Nashville, Tennessee
See More Jobs
Adweek Adweek Adweek

EDITOR'S PICKS

Leadership & Talent

How the Lee Clow Talent Tree Spreads Far and Wide in Advertising and Creativity

by Doug Zanger

Leadership & Talent

Ogilvy Announces Another Restructuring in the Latest Phase of Its 'Next Chapter'

by Patrick Coffee

AdFreak

Thanks to Ancestry, Six Strangers Learn How They're Connected Via the Underground Railroad

by Shannon Miller

Brand Marketing

Nascar Hopes Marketing a New Generation of Drivers Can Lure Fans Back to the Sport

by Jameson Fleming

Streaming & OTT

NBA Superstars Are Here to Remind You That Hulu Has Live Sports Available for Streaming

by Sara Jerde

Agencies

Volkswagen Names Johannes Leonardo Lead Creative Agency in the U.S.

by Patrick Coffee

AdFreak

BMW Creates a Folk Hero for the Modern Age: the Unstoppable, Mysterious Ol' McLanden

by Amy Corr

AdFreak

This Ad Captures the One Thing Every Millennial's Dad Does

by David Griner
View Latest News >
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • Media Kit
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Sponsor Content
    • Jobs
  • Subscriptions
    • Subscription Options
    • Digital App
    • Newsletters
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Customer Service
  • Awards / Honors / Events
    • Awards and Honors
    • Adweek Events
    • Webinars
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Trophies / Awards / Seals
  • Publications
    • Adweek Network
    • RSS
    • Backissues
    • Reprints / E-Prints
  • © 2019 Adweek, LLC. - All Rights Reserved
  • About Adweek
  • Contact Us
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy