Toyota Moves Forward in Ads From Saatchi

DETROIT Toyota today launches an integrated marketing campaign that introduces the tagline "Moving forward." That positioning replaces "Get the feeling," and the new work shows how Toyota vehicles can play important roles in the lives of young adults. Most of the new TV ads feature the Camry. The campaign was created by Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi in Torrance, Calif., with Conill producing work for the Hispanic market, Burrell for the African American market and InterTrend for the Asian American market.The client spent more than $650 million on ads last year and $410 million through July 2004, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus. A humorous spot titled "Lawyer" shows a young man behind the wheel of a Camry, driving with his girlfriend and her father. After an uncomfortable silence, the young man apologizes to the older man, saying, "If I had known you were an attorney, Mr. Johnson, I would not have made that lawyer joke." In "Steve," a second spot with the same characters, the woman's father calls the young man by the wrong name, "Steve," and then asks his daughter: "What happened to Steve? I liked Steve."Another commercial, "California Dream," features a grunge-rock soundtrack and shows a young woman preparing for her first move, then driving from Texas to California in a Camry.Each ad ends with the line, "Now that's moving you forward," employing a voiceover from actor Rob Morrow, who portrayed the neurotic doctor on the 1990's TV show Northern Exposure. The spots will run on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, Scrubs, Last Comic Standing and Late Night With Conan O'Brien.Print ads will run in publications such as People, Time, GQ and Wired, said Jim Lentz, Toyota's group vice president of marketing. "The layouts are nontraditional for the automotive category, because the Internet now secures the role as the primary production information source for our buyers. This frees up the print ads to focus on building consideration," he said. Also launching Tuesday will be a Web site, www.toyota.com/planetkaizen, that informs customers about innovations, technology and other features "not usually shared with customers," said Deborah Wahl Myer, Toyota's corporate manager of marketing communications. "Previously, the only people who had access to this information were journalists and dealership personnel." New work for the Tacoma pick-up truck will debut in November, using the voice of actor John Lurie. Ads for the Tundra double-cab pick-up will feature Nascar star Daryl Waltrip.

Brand Marketing

Toyota Moves Forward in Ads From Saatchi

Kevin Ransom

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