Toyota Swaggers Into Effective Product Positioning

A few people have asked my thoughts on the Toyota Sienna campaign, particularly the idea of positioning a minivan as a “Swagger Wagon.” Well I have to say I love it. It is becoming one of the best campaigns of 2010.

Why?

1.) It gives the vehicle a distinct personality. This is rare these days. Most marketing today is about showcasing individual features of the car. Here Toyota is focusing on giving their minivan a unique positioning statement.

2.) It mocks the target consumer in a way that even the audience it is trying to reach finds it fun and unoffensive. Anyone buying a minivan has surrendered to a life of sacrificing style for function. Toyota’s marketing team has built off this surrendering by having some ridiculous fun with the parents by blending the hilarity of rapping middle-age parents, focusing on the lifestyle as if it is something to be desirable, and still maintain the product benefits to the consumer.

3.) The two actors are perfectly cast. Someone shared with me that they come off as “asshats” but I think they embody the sense that parenting has become too serious and really needs to relax. After years of parents over nurturing their kids, the time has come to get back to focusing on the needs of the parents and some relief from child rearing.

4.) Oddly enough it creates a sense of pride in the vehicle. The Sienna is no longer just another minivan it is a “Swagger Wagon” and that identity will stick. Good or bad, it will and those who buy one will find a sense of pride in owning it. Imagine pulling up to the next family holiday party in your Swagger Wagon. Now that’s style over function.


To launch the latest music video for the campaign, Toyota bought a roadblock on YouTube’s home page that featured a banner with an integrated video taking people to the Sienna YouTube channel. I looked at the ad unit early yesterday morning and there were around 40,000 views o the video. Tonight there are 466,748 views! A very impressive feat for a one-day home page ad unit; though, it wasn’t only the ad. Toyota received a lot of buzz coverage from the major and minor automotive blogs and some other media outlets because the video is actually entertaining.

The most impressive contribution, I didn’t once think about Toyota’s recall issues while watching it.

Toyota Launches Whimsical CampaignAt Its Most Serious Time in History

It’s refreshing talking about Toyota without mentioning their recall nightmare. Okay, that was one mention. The new Sienna minivan campaign just launched and it is providing some decent ways for a brand to leverage their online properties to further promote an attempt at a viral video campaign.

The videos are cutesy comical takes on parenting and mocking the “look at me” parents who are all about style and self-congratulatory recognition. Actors Brian Huskey and Rachel Drummond play the part well. The ads are well done for what they are; though, some wonder if the timing of this campaign couldn’t be worse. Toyota is trying really hard to get people to think of Toyota beyond just the recall as they heavily market their brand and the Sienna during the Olympics.


Bill Green, who writes one of my favorite ad blogs Make the Logger Bigger and co-hosts the AdVerve Podcast, writes “After seeing mommy get a timeout, Toyota’s getting too cute for its own good, especially given their recent troubles. All brands on deck means they should be focused on rebuilding rep across the board, not glossing over a recall problem by pushing happy minivan families.”

I’m not sure I agree. Toyota still has to promote its new products even with a major recall. Sure the Sienna stuff is tongue-and-cheek at a time when the company needs to be very stiff and serious, but the Sienna campaign was in development long before the recent recall news and the work does fit well in the minivan segment.

Let’s face it anyone buying a minivan has already given up on being cool and probably feels smart choosing a minivan over pricier, less practical SUVs and CUVs that dominate the driveways of most families. So what better way to endear yourself to your buyers by making fun of the superiority of style conscious sport utility parents by applying that attitude to minivan drivers? Also, taking a few liberties with the “fun” of parenting is not a bad thing either.

This is not a new concept for the Toyota Sienna. Sienna’s last effort in 2007 included ads that ran on a similar theme, but slightly reversed. Instead of the parents mocking the kids, the kids mock the parents as in this commercial featuring some ungrateful kids whose new playhouse doesn’t feature leather seating surfaces like their comfy new minivan.

What I like best about the campaign is not the witty writing of the commercials; rather, the digital connection of various web properties is well executed by the online team. The campaign is made available through a branded YouTube channel that also promotes connecting to the vehicle’s Facebook fan page and links out to more information at the Toyota website.

Unlike most auto manufacturer shopping sites, the Sienna vehicle page clearly connects to the campaign and promotes the accompanying social websites; though, the call to action to “watch more Sienna commercials” on YouTube is less than exciting on a vehicle’s landing page. It’s a bit we really love our ads now go watch them and see how smart we are.

Even so, the vehicle-landing page communicates clearly and connects with the campaign in an uncluttered way while promoting a connection with the brand in social media. I really like how the communication happens across Toyota’s site, their Facebook fan page, and the YouTube channel. It is all nicely integrated and finds a way to bring the whole effort together even if it is distributed across the web.

The online flow isn’t revolutionary. It’s simple, not overdone like Sienna's “Making It Rain” ad.