Toyota Goes Digital to Market Safety Perception Gap

Toyota is in a real tailspin lately after countless recalls and the latest JD Power Quality Rating that gave the automaker a terrifying drop from 6th to 21st place out of 33 brands. Some industry pundits feel Toyota has enjoyed a leisurely advantage from their customers’ perception of strong quality over the years while in reality it has been deteriorating. A recent episode of Autoline After Hours had host John McElroy commenting on how all of the news is finally showing some of the chinks in Toyota’s quality armor that many consumers have known this for years. (As a side note: If you like this blog, you'll love Autoline After Hours it is by far the best Auto Industry podcast. I highly recommend it for weekly viewing.)

Whatever the case with Toyota’s real or perceived quality and safety issues are they have launched a major digital media campaign to respond to the safety issue.

The initial response was Toyota’s Recall landing page, but now they are moving to a strategic response around “Toyota Safety”. The online ads are directing people to the new safety site that communicates some of Toyota’s efforts around building safe cars. They feature their IIHS Top Safety Pick ratings, their SMART Teams who conduct rapid on-site analysis of issues, and their TV spots (online video) feature safety engineers and families that trust the brand. “At Toyota, we’re currently investing one million dollars an hour to enhance the safety and technology of our vehicles.”

Toyota has even branded their five safety features under the “Star Safety System” which is now standard on all their vehicles. What is the system? It’s traction control, stability control, anti-lock brakes, electronic brake distribution, and brake assist.

The latest ad buy was one recently used by Chevrolet on Yahoo! Mail that uses a background look to the mail login page (see image at left.) They are also buying several key placements on Facebook to get the message out.

I really like Toyota’s Safety landing page. It provides four clear messages with some well-executed online video explaining the company’s commitment and seriousness about responding to their safety perception issue. After months of news stories reporting unattended accelerating vehicles --some true and some alleged hoaxes -- the company needs to show they make safe vehicles.

The question now is will we see a Toyota Quality landing page after their plunging JD Power Quality rating? If one types in http://www.toyota.com/quality the page is redirected to http://www.toyota.com/productleadership/#/Precision. This page does not look like it is ready for prime time as a destination for online media, but that could easily change if Toyota uses the same formula they have for the Safety and Recall landing pages.

Auto Sales Forecast Hit By Analysts' Loss of Confidence

Automotive sales forecasts for 2009 are getting repeatedly slashed as consumer confidence plummets. New numbers from J.D. Power show an anticipated 10.4 million unit sales, that's 1 million less than the number they had going into 2009.

With the stock market falling to a number that is half from it's peak in 2007 and with mid-600,000 numbers of new people seeking unemployment benefits, no of this comes as a surprise.

From the Associated Press: "Automakers such as Kia and Subaru, which many car buyers view as high-value brands, could also outperform the competition, he said. Subaru is the only automaker that Toprak expects to post a sales increase for the month.

Sales of the automaker's top-selling all-wheel drive Forester, which starts at $19,995, more than doubled to 5,162 units in January." more.

Viral Fun? Four Guys Getting All Wet and Soapy

Mini Cooper's "Always Open" campaign for their new convertible is trying the viral video route by doing something every convertible lover wants to see - top down car washing. Whenever I get into my convertible I'm always tempted to press the automatic top button to see what will happen if I go through the wash sans top. Now I know. I'll get all soapy, wet and power dried.

Mini takes the fascination of convertible driving in a new direction as they show something that theoretically sounds fun and a bit rebellious as four guys video tape their drive through a car wash. The campaign team is definitely thinking this is something that could turn viral since it is video that probably wouldn't exist without marketing dollars influencing a local car wash owner to allow a drive top down. It, therefore, is unique video because I know I'm not going to payoff a car wash owner to try this at home. So unique yes. Viral?

This brings us to what makes a video viral. Unique helps, but it needs more to be viral.

Is driving a convertible through a car wash entertaining? It is, though, I'm sure the male demographic watching the Mini footage wishes it had some gender equality in the four seats. The marketing team knows this would definitely up viewer-ship, but at the expense of some negative press, especially from their 41% female owners (JD Power 2008.) Even so, they still could've included some women in the drive without it really turning into some salacious wet t-shirt contest brought to you by Mini. Editing people. Editing.

Is it funny? There are a couple moments. One guy takes a strong power jet washer hit and a back seat passenger puffs up while going through the drying cycle. Overall, it doesn't do much because it is so contrived and obvious the whole experience is a marketing stunt. Yet, it does have some interesting moments and is sure to get some circulation from the shear uniqueness of the content.

Is it relevant to the customer Mini is trying to reach? Absolutely. This is where the video is most effective. It shows the car in something other than city streets or with the wind blowing in your hair in the night sky. It's playful too which completely fits Mini's brand promise. Lastly, it is right with the messaging of the current campaign. The Mini convertible is even "Always Open" even in an unexpected car wash drive.