Scion Turns to Cable With Mashup Campaign

Scion has taken the wraps off its latest marketing campaign, bowing a series of vibrant TV and print ads in what is essentially an extension of last year’s “United By Individuality” initiative. As steered by the San Francisco creative agency Attik, the new “Samples” campaign offers consumers a candy-colored, kinetic look at Scion’s five-door xB subcompact wagon and the tC, a two-door sports coupe that has served as a successor of sorts to Toyota’s discontinued Celica. The first run of print ads began hitting newsstands in the January issues of the music/lifestyle glossies Revolver, Death + Taxes, Juxtapoz, Play and Big Shot. As part of a media strategy that will remain active through March, Scion will place one of nine different executions in as many as 20 publications. Some of the advance creative furnished by Attik features abstracted photographic treatments of the two models, including a shot of a customized pink-tinted tC that resembles an inverted bottle of Pepto-Bismol. Another ad combines strategically placed mirrors and moody lighting effects to create an xB with so many facets that it almost looks like a gemstone. In order to zero in on Scion’s youthful demo, the car company is snapping up late-night real estate on male-skewing cable networks like Viacom’s Comedy Central and Spike TV, as well as Adult Swim, SíTV and Fuel. Beginning this week, those five nets will carry the xB creative. Meanwhile, MTV, BET, Fuse and G4 will play host to the new 30-second spots for the tC. Never one to conflate reach for brand equity, Scion has limited its TV run to cable’s hipster ghetto because it understands that this is precisely where its adherents reside. Nor do the spots bow to the conventions that have made automotive advertising an exercise in beautifully photographed generica. Rather than presenting viewers with the umpteenth shot of a sedan cruising around a closed track, the tC ad manipulates images of tricked-out Scion compacts in a digital mash-up of color and synthesized beats. And in lieu of the A-list actor speaking in dulcet tones about fuel efficiency and financing, the xB creative lets the car’s toaster-oven-with-headlights aesthetic speak for itself. “When you look at car commercials at this moment in time, it’s become obvious that everyone is trying to sell promotions and deals and so forth, and what we’re doing is trying to stay true to our brand proposition,” said Attik co-founder and creative director Simon Needham. “We want to create something different from what the rest of the industry is doing, while continuing to target people who are inspired by good creative content.” Since its national rollout in 2004, Scion has deliberately positioned itself to appeal to the customization crowd. Rather than over-designing its cars, Scion offers something of a blank canvas onto which consumers can project themselves. (Personalization begins at the company’s Web site, where prospective buyers can trick out their xB with LED tail lights, rear spoilers and 19-inch five-spoke rims.) Both TV spots underscore the “United By Individuality” theme, which was first introduced in July 2008. In a nod to the adaptability of the Scion models, each of the individual vehicles featured in the ads was personalized by its owner, with tweaks ranging from classic appliqué racing stripes to full-on confectionary-style paint jobs. A spot for a third Scion model, the xD hatchback, is expected to bow later this month. With a base sticker price of around $18,000, Scion might easily position itself as a recession-buster, and yet the company isn’t straying from its original brand messaging. “Of course, a lot of people are looking at it as a great value, but we’re going to stay focused on our target audience,” Needham said. “We’re not looking to weaken our position by trying to appeal to a broader segment.” In a month in which U.S. auto sales plunged 36 percent, Scion slowed down significantly in December, shifting 4,127 units, a drop of 54 percent versus the year-ago period. The automaker moved 1,794 xBs, a drop of 52.6 percent versus its December 2007 numbers, while clearing 1,348 tCs, a fall-off of 61.6 percent. Americans drove 113,904 Scion vehicles off the lot in 2008, a drop of 12.5 percent versus the Toyota marque’s year-ago sales totals. The xB held its ground last year, as Scion shifted 45,220 vehicles, a dip of just 1.7 percent versus 2007 sales of 45,834. The tC didn’t fare as well, as sales of the two-door model declined 36 percent, to 40,980.Scion spent $30 million on measured media in 2007––a figure that does not take into online buys––and $19 million through October 2008, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

Convergent TV

Scion Turns to Cable With Mashup Campaign

Anthony Crupi

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