Toyota Launches "Dream Car of the Day," Making Kids' Artwork a Reality for the First Vine Campaign Showcasing Children around the World

Toyota will celebrate 90 finalists of the 8th Toyota Dream Car Art Contest with Vine videos, released every single day from May 29th to August 31st

PR Newswire

TOKYO, May 29, 2014

TOKYO, May 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Toyota Motor Sales & Marketing Corporation(TMSM), a subsidiary company of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) today announced the launch of "Dream Car of the Day," a first-of-its-kind Vine campaign that brings an exciting new dimension to its annual Toyota Dream Car Art Contest. For the first time in the history of the contest, TMSM is sharing the inspiring works of 90 finalists with an online campaign using Vine, one of the hottest mobile apps that enables users to create and post six-second short looping video clips. The online campaign reflects the global scale of the contest, allowing for worldwide exposure to the impressive ideas of children, and aligns with the company's guiding philosophy of innovation through next generation thinking. 

Believing that the children who dream and develop their imagination create the future, TMSM hosts the Toyota Dream Car Art Contest each year and asks kids to draw their dream car of the future. The 2014 8^th Annual Toyota Dream Car Art Contest attracted more than 660,000 submissions from over 75 countries and regions worldwide.

In order to show how powerful kids' imaginations can be, TMSM partnered with creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi Fallon Tokyo to conceptualize the Dream Car of the Day and bring the 90 finalists' dream car drawings to life through 3D and 2D animations. Each design will be featured in its own Vine video, taking viewers on a ride through the imagination of the young artist.

Starting today, and for the next 90 days, one new artwork and accompanying Vine video will be revealed on the Dream Car of the Day website and on social media. Visitors can view the Vine video by "liking" it. The Dream Car of the Day website will be home to all 90 dream car designs and will feature each child as the "hero" for the day, collectively serving as an inspiring representation of the creativity of the world's future innovators.

Key Highlights:

• The Toyota Dream Car Art Contest started in 2004 and is one of the largest global art contests for children with the 8^th annual contest attracting over 660,000 participants from over 75 countries and regions around the world
• Many of the submitted works of art show a strong theme of sustainability messages with car designs offering imaginative solutions to large-scale social and environmental issues
• Winning artwork were selected by a panel of external and internal judges, including illustrators, designers and the President of Toyota
• 2014 marks the first year that Toyota is showcasing the contest online through a first-of-its-kind Vine campaign
• Dream Car of the Day campaign will celebrate the 90 finalists selected from the winners of regionally held Local Contests who have been entered into the World Contest, where they are judged to qualify for the final awards

View the mini artwork here

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/29/saatchisaatchi-toyota-idUSnPn4GRtzn+98+PRN20140529

BMW searches for the “millions” of brand stories around the world

By Joe McCarthy

#BMWStories post from fan

German automaker BMW is unifying owners around the world with a global campaign that celebrates driver stories.

The brand is weaving together stories from fans, professional drivers and important figures in the company to give a full sense of what it means to be a BMW driver. Today’s campaigns seem inadequate without a strong user-generated content component, and many brands are responding to this development by leveraging the voices of followers.

“The buzzword in the marketing community is ‘The consumer owns the brand,’” said Al Ries, founder and chairman of Ries & Ries, a Roswell, GA-based marketing strategy consultancy. “Oddly enough, that is true.

“Brands are names that exist in consumers’ minds,” he said. “If your brand is not in very many minds, it isn’t worth anything.

“But that’s always been true. So there’s nothing new and different about brands today. Yet, many marketing people think that everything about branding is turned upside down. The only way to reach consumers is by exposing them to what other consumers think about your brand. Hence, the BMW campaign and many others like it.”

Mr. Ries is not affiliated with BMW, but agreed to comment as an industry expert.

BMW was unable to comment by press deadline.

Individual experiencesThe campaign casts a wide net to include as many BMW drivers as possible.

Fans are encouraged to post what their BMW means to them and how it has affected their life. Whether that means a one-time event, fond memory or a routine experience is subjective.

BMW Facebook post regarding campaign

BMW released a video to emphasize the subjectivity of the campaign, declaring that there are millions of BMW stories out there.

There are millions of BMW stories. What`s yours?

The Web page for the campaign reflects this diversity. Beginning with the campaign video, the page leads to a collapsible section that highlights the brand’s claim to innovation.

Videos and other content explore the i8 model, racing events and some of the minds behind BMW.

From BMW stories page

The rest of the page deals mainly with user-generated content. The first fan area highlights “pioneering” stories including first-drives of the BMW i3 model.

#BMWStories post from fan

The next section displays a wider range BMW stories and relevant content.

#BMWStories content 

Currently, the content is available in English and German. The brand will launch a United States-focused version of the campaign in the near future.

All together Several automakers have rallied around the notion of unifying fans.

For instance, Audi of America gathered fan tales of adversity and resilience for a live-stream event in Santa Monica, CA, directed by creative figures such as artists, designers and musicians.

The massive community-driven initiative was an extension of the “Paid my Dues” campaign that heralded the debut of the A3. As Audi repositions its entry-level vehicles to appeal to a broader audience, tapping the universal theme of overcoming obstacles will likely resonate (see story).

Also, Mercedes-Benz USA honored dedicated fans by showcasing the stories behind their passion for the brand and how they became owners on its Facebook page.

The “Owner’s Stories” profiles vary in formats ranging from question and answer to brief anecdotes and personal histories. Mercedes demonstrated its commitment to fans and will likely fortify brand loyalties by going beyond fleeting social-media interactions to delve into the lives of consumers (see story).

“In truth, using customer stories is only one way to build a brand,” Mr. Ries said. “And it’s probably not a particularly effective way.

“When you publish many different stories from many different customers, you tend to lack a coherent theme,” he said. “And without a coherent theme, the advertising isn’t very memorable.

“The BMW brand was built around a singular idea, The ultimate driving machine. I think they should stick to this slogan and make it an inherent part of everything they do.”

Opel Mokka: Opel Mokka Skiptest

When was the last time you actually watched a pre-roll ad on YouTube?The truth is, the only thing people watch is the skip button to see how many seconds they have to wait.

Grey Moscow used that to show how Opel Mokka's different features help you to deal with the things you can't avoid like pre-roll ads. Introducing the SkipTest a series of pre-rolls where the car interacts with the 'Skip' button as if it were a real obstacle on the road: driving over, swerving around, and even crashing into it.

Toyota ‘busts the myths’ around Hybrid cars in new online campaign

POSTED BY NATALIE MORTIMER

Toyota Motor Europe, has today unveiled a new online campaign, ‘Fall in love with driving again’, which the car maker hopes will boost the popularity of its Hybrid cars.

Developed by Saatchi and Saatchi London, the campaign aims to highlight the “positive emotions” felt when driving in congested cities in a Hybrid.

The first film of the new campaign shows drivers in Rome participating in an experiment by driving the routes they normally drive in both Hybrid and non-Hybrid vehicles.

The drivers’ emotions are then analysed to determine how stressed or happy they are after driving a petrol or diesel and a Hybrid car.

Dario Giustini, Toyota brand and marketing communications senior manager, commented: “This is an exciting time for Toyota in Europe. Toyota is the leader in Hybrid technology and one of our objectives is to be a facilitator of better driving experiences.

“The objective of our marketing campaign is to demonstrate that consumers fall in love with driving again thanks to Toyota Hybrid.”

The film, which breaks in the UK in May, will be rolled out across European Markets followed by a series of online films that “bust the myths” about Hybrid cars. Social and location-based marketing is set to follow.

Toyota: Try My Hybrid

The ‘Try my Hybrid’ campaign in Norway is a social + mobile platform featuring real Toyota Hybrid owners – who for no money – signed on to let strangers, friends and neighbours (plus friends of friends through Facebook) test drive their Hybrid.

We are told that Toyota Hybrid owners are Norway’s most satisfied car owners. I’m not sure I believe that, but recruiting more people to buy Hybrids has to be hard, so this is a very cool new way to get physical test drives happening. Very cool. What do you guys think?

New Study Shows Facebook Ads Increase Vehicle Consideration, Decrease Competitor Consideration

The annual North American International Auto Show kicks off this week in Detroit, once again offering a glimpse at the future of automotive design and technology. And as auto marketers work to reach and influence in-market consumers, a new comScore Action Lift study initiated by Facebook shows Facebook’s impact on new vehicle consideration.

Speaking today at Automotive News World Congress in Detroit, Kass Dawson, head of automotive strategy at Facebook, will announce the results of the new study. comScore’s findings are two-fold: The study shows that automotive campaigns on Facebook drive more people to consider brands and models advertised, while also decreasing consideration of competitors.

“As more people shop for cars and conduct research online, marketers using Facebook have never had greater opportunity to influence every stage of the purchase funnel,” says Kass. “This study shines a spotlight on how Facebook influences mid-funnel behavior and demonstrates that automotive ads on Facebook make your overall campaigns work harder.”

About the study

Increasing time spent online and access to new vehicle information have reshaped the way people research and evaluate cars. Consumers now consider more vehicles and ultimately visit fewer dealerships than ever. In turn, automotive marketers are re-evaluating how they reach and influence in-market consumers.

To understand Facebook’s impact on new vehicle consideration, Facebook initiated a study with comScore to analyze five major automotive campaigns on Facebook between May and August 2013. By comparing a paired test and control group, defined using their Action Lift methodology, comScore looked at the ability of those campaigns to drive incremental lift in vehicle consideration, in terms of site visitation and search outcomes.

Full Article & Findings: https://www.facebook.com/business/news/New-comScore-Study-Shows-Facebook-Ads-Increase-Vehicle-Consideration-Decrease-Competitor-Consideration

THE BEST BRANDED ENTERTAINMENT OF 2013 EXAMPLES

HONDA HELPS SAVE THE DRIVE-IN THEATER
Honda Motor Co. went old school with an effort to save aging drive-in movie theaters unable to upgrade their venues with new digital projectors. The Japanese automaker wound up helping nine theaters across the country and put a spotlight on an area of the exhibition biz that’s become an aging relic but a nostalgic part of car culture.

AUDI REVS UP YEAR-ROUND DEALS
When it comes to entertainment, carmakers typically put their marketing dollars around a single summer tentpole, but Audi made sure the German auto brand was associated with top properties year-round, with showy promos in and around “Iron Man 3,” “The Wolverine” and “Ender’s Game,” while also sponsoring the Emmys, AFI Fest and the Toronto Film Festival and hosting events around the Golden Globes and Oscars. It also one-upped Mazda this summer with a humorous short starring the two Spocksaround the release of “Star Trek Into Darkness.” Mazda was the film’s official car partner.

Also noteworthy: Infiniti produced “Deja View,” a choose-your-adventure film. Jaguar cast “Homeland’s” Damian Lewis in its own film, “Desire.”Canon gave new filmmakers a push with “Project Imaginat10n.” Doritos put a WWE fan in the ring at “SummerSlam.” And a brand could have generatedsome buzzworthy goodwill with fans of “Veronica Mars” by picking up the tab when its creator was raising money for a bigscreen version on Kickstarter. The film bows at Sundance.

Forecast: A brand will step up to produce an original series for Netflix, Hulu, Amazon or the new videogame consoles from Microsoft and Sony. Carmakers will also generate considerable mileage from high-profile placements in films like “Transformers: Age of Extinction” and “Need for Speed.”

http://variety.com/2013/digital/news/brands-prove-savvy-storytellers-in-2013-the-years-best-branded-entertainment-1201005163/

Toyota Is Using Instagram Videos in Its Facebook Ads

http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/toyota-using-instagram-videos-its-facebook-ads-154098

Well, it's not the video ads on Facebook that everyone (in the marketing world, at least) is waiting to see, but give props to Toyota for taking social-media-generated spots on a test drive. To promote the 2014 Tundra, the automaker is running paid Facebook promos that utilize Instagram videos during the next few months.

Employing rich-media ad units from Moontoast, Toyota is buying Facebook's page post link ads to push the 15-second, stop-motion-styled vids (watch example below). The Japanese company has been trialing the ads in recent weeks. While the ads will render in users' News Feeds, they won't auto-play—or, in fact, play at all unless the viewer clicks through to a separate page. While the excecution appears simplistic, the concept seems to be working fairly well so far, as Toyota's initial ad today has already garnered roughly 800 likes.

"We want to create different ways for our audience to engage, whether that be static posts or embedded video," Florence Drakton, Toyota's social media manager, told Adweek. "It's a little bit early to tell yet [whether the ads perform greatly], but we continue to innovate for our fans."

Generally speaking, Drakton said the Facebook ads will target men who are in the market for a new truck. "We recognize that media consumption is trending toward digital and social," she explained, "and we are definitely ramping up our budget and resources to support that."

Toyota's agency of record, Saatchi & Saatchi LA, is also helping with this effort.

Moontoast CTO Marcus Whitney claimed his company was the first vendor to build an ad unit with Instagram video and photo capabilities on Facebook's marketing platform. "[Theoretically], the unit enables pulling in content from user-generated sources as well," he added.

Audi Uses Rich Media Ads in DoubleClick Studio to Build Brand Engagement for A3 Sportback

THE RUNDOWN

Audi wanted to position its new A3 Sportback as a natural choice for those attracted to modern luxury. To achieve this, the team created a bespoke ad unit for tablets offering a range of functionalities and connecting the platforms where Audi is represented. As the ad was built in DoubleClick Studio, it could be designed without templates and individual actions could be tracked for performance. The ad achieved a positive unique user interaction rate of 18% and the cost per unique user interaction came to $0.07.

THE GOALS

• Stimulate deep brand engagement with new Audi A3 Sportback
• Reinforce Audi’s slogan, “Vorsprung durch Technik” or "Progress through Technology"

THE APPROACH

• Created HTML5 rich media ad for tablets in DoubleClick Studio
• Ran this reservation campaign on the Google App Network
• Tracked using DoubleClick tools for maximum campaign insights

THE RESULTS

• Unique user interaction rate was 18%, cost per unique user interaction was $0.07
• On average, users spent about 30 seconds within the ad
• Campaign drove more than 13,000 incremental video views on YouTube
• 
  

Audi is a car manufacturer that’s counted among the “German Big Three”, a designation referring to the three best-selling luxury automakers in the world. This year saw the launch of the Audi A3 Sportback, which comes with a host of technical features, such as a new, powerful engine and lightweight components, making it the most advanced model yet. Inside, Audi Connect links the car to the driver’s social accounts, to Google Earth and Street View, as well as to the latest news and online traffic updates.

Start your engines

Audi’s slogan, “Vorsprung durch Technik” translates as “Progress through Technology”. This applies as much to the technical solutions Audi cars offer as it does to the advertising that supports them. It was therefore important for the marketing team to create an ad that would position Audi as a leader in technology and reinforce the Audi A3 Sportback as a natural choice for customers interested in modern, up-to-the-minute luxury.

The starting point for the campaign was the car itself. “We have a unique quality product,” says Christine Jelved, CMO, Audi Denmark. “Whenever people come to the showroom, the first thing they want to do is touch the car, they want to feel it.” Thus, Christine and her team set about creating an ad campaign capable of translating the experience of a visit to the showroom onto a digital device.

“We wanted to give users an ad that gives them the possibility of interacting with their perfect car at home,” says Audi Denmark’s online manager Jacob Thiesen. The custom ad format enables users to complete a wide variety of actions within the unit: configure their favourite car, view it from every angle through a 360-degree spin mechanism, share with friends, discover more about the model through an image gallery, view selected video clips from Audi’s YouTube channel, find their closest dealer to book a test drive, calculate leasing costs and request a quotation. Because the unit was produced in DoubleClick Studio, the ad could be designed without being tied to a template or specific functionality and these individual actions could be tracked for performance.

Audi used multiple Google products that enabled users to access the brand’s YouTube channel and social pages, as well as the launch page for the Audi A3 Sportback within the ad unit. “It’s natural to connect the media platforms in which we are represented,” says Dan Bøgsted Andersen, project manager at Audi Denmark IT. Not only does this give the best possible user experience, it also offers the added advantage of helping to drive performance on other platforms.

Get a move on

The team understood that a rich media ad on a tablet offered a great opportunity for deep, sustained engagement – more so than any other screen. “Today, 20% of all traffic at Audi.dk comes from tablet devices,” Jacob reveals. “We believe when people spend time with our brand and with our cars in the tablet ad, this will lead to more sales in the long run.” By working with great content and offering a unique experience, the engaging format was able to capture the user’s attention and provide an exceptional branding effect.

Audi took the decision to promote its rich media ad on the Google App Network. This offers the perfect environment for advertisers who want to work with large, interactive ad formats and to reach users who are spending time on their tablets.

Ready to roll

With its wide variety of functionality, the ad has outperformed expectations. “Each visitor is completing lots of actions when they are in the ad,” says Jacob. The numbers suggest multiple, long-lasting interactions rather than superficial engagements, with DoubleClick reports showing interaction rates of almost 1% for events several clicks away from the initial screen. “I think we’re all a bit surprised at how much users interacted. At a low cost to us, they delved into even the deepest content,” says Dan. “That’s something we would be unable to achieve in a TV commercial.”

Overall, the ad achieved a unique user interaction rate of 18%. Meanwhile, the cost per unique user interaction came to just $0.07. On average, users spent about 30 seconds within the ad and the campaign drove more than 13,000 incremental video views on Audi’s YouTube channel.

What’s the secret of Audi’s success? “When you want to create a really engaging rich media ad, you must have the device and the user in mind," Jacob answers. Christine agrees and says: “Being ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’, we want to place Audi at the forefront of digital marketing, and we feel that this rich media ad for tablets achieves this.”

https://www.google.com/think/case-studies/audi-rich-media.html

The CW Gets Social With Ford

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/cw-gets-social-ford-152858

In what the network is characterizing as its most ambitious co-branded marketing campaign to date, the CW and Ford have teamed up on a cross-platform initiative that will give viewers a sneak peek at a roster of new and returning series.

Rolling out Thursday (Oct. 3), the campaign incorporates elements from Ford’s social engagement effort (“Fiesta Movement: A Social Remix”). Per terms of the partnership, five specially selected “agents”—the automaker’s term for young brand ambassadors who also happen to be social butterflies—will introduce the 2014 Ford Fiesta to fans of the freshman dramas Reign and The Originals, as well as CW tent poles The Vampire Diaries, Arrow and Hart of Dixie.

Each agent will be charged with carrying on a mission for one of the aforementioned series. For example, one socially aflutter ambassador will explore the crypts and mausoleums of a renowned New Orleans cemetery alongside The Originals actress Daniella Pineda (Sophie), while another agent will be styled for a Reign-themed photoshoot with Caitlin Stasey (Kenna).

The missions will then be boiled down to 60-second spots that will air during the CW’s season premieres and on the network’s Web site. The segments will be introduced by Candice Accola, who plays Caroline Forbes on the CW’s top-rated series, The Vampire Diaries. 

The executions also translate to the printed page. Two full-page ads (one for Arrow, one for Reign) will appear in this week’s US Weekly, two will run in Entertainment Weekly (Vampire Diaries, Originals), and a Hart of Dixie ad will pop up in People StyleWatch.

The Vampire Diaries print ad features an electric-blue Fiesta and agent Lisa Schwartz, a Century City resident whose YouTube account has north of 621,000 subscribers. The creative talks up the Fiesta’s advanced technology and fuel economy (41 Highway MPG) and includes a tune-in for the show.

According to Barbra Robin, the CW’s svp of integrated marketing, the Fiesta agents have 2 million followers between them. “For a campaign of this size, we thought the social space would be the best place to start,” Robin said. “The agents are socially active viewers who fit our demo and are huge, passionate fans of our shows.”

The initiative coincides with the official launch of the CW’s fall broadcast season. At 8 p.m., The Vampire Diaries will kick off its fifth season ahead of the premiere of The Originals. (The spinoff moves to its regular Tuesday 8 p.m. time slot on Oct. 8, clearing the way for the Oct. 17 series premiere of Reign.)

Not only does the campaign talk up the Ford Fiesta in the lingua franca of the CW demo, but it also offers fans a behind-the-scenes look at the new and returning series. Naturally, the social-media element is pivotal to the entire initiative; although both shows have yet to premiere, The Originals already boasts more than 110,000 Twitter followers and Reign has passed the 50,000 “likes” mark on Facebook.

There is also a decidedly exclusive element to the partnership, as the new Fiesta will appear on no other broadcast outlet over the course of the campaign. “From an on-air standpoint, this is their ad campaign,” Robin said.

A favorite among young female drivers—the 1.0 EcoBoost was recently named theWomen’s World Car of the Year—the Ford Fiesta has been a long-standing partner of The Vampire Diaries. In Season 2, Accola’s character drives a black 2011 model.

“This is one of the biggest launch partnerships we’ve done,” Robin said. “While it may not be reflected in terms of media dollars (with 10 hours of programming, we only have so much promo time), it’s definitely a huge media commitment.”

Honda Warns Snack Brands on Twitter About the Odyseey's In-Car Vacuum Cleaner

http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/honda-warns-snack-brands-twitter-about-odysseys-car-vacuum-cleaner-152830

Perhaps you've seen RPA's new TV spots for the Honda Odyssey, which has the world's first in-car vacuum cleaner. The ads, voiced by Neil Patrick Harris and Rainn Wilson, feature junk on the minivan's floor—crayons, candy, lint balls, tiny toys—chatting obliviously before getting sucked up by the vacuum.

On Tuesday, RPA launched a social element, in which @Honda is tweeting at snack and toy brands, warning them about what's in store if they fall on the floor of an Odyssey. The idea is fun, and the tweets are generally decent—but the added bonus is that many of the brands are responding or retweeting, extending the reach of the communications beyond Honda's 176,000 followers. Well, OK, there have been snarky replies, too.

Check out some of the tweets below, along with the TV spots.

Honda Australia leverages LinkedIn to promote its all-new accord + build an A-Team via LinkedIn, ZenithOptimedia and Leo Burnett Melbourne

Tuesday 09, July 2013 at 11:25 AM by Ricki

Honda Australia has launched the "A-Team", an online campaign leveraging LinkedIn contacts to build an A-Team to promote the all-new Accord.

The concept was developed by LinkedIn and ZenithOptimedia, with creative guidance from Leo Burnett Melbourne. LinkedIn was responsible for the production of the API.

Says Kevin Lillie, Honda Australia senior manager marketing: "We chose the LinkedIn platform and use of their Application Programming Interface (API) to target an audience of mid-tier affluent professionals and engage them in a more personalised and creative way.

"We are particularly pleased with the way professionals can engage with the Accord's features and select connections that best fit a particular position on their team."

Members select the position that best describes them and then choose from their professional contacts on LinkedIn to fill the remaining four positions on their team, creating the strongest, most impressive A-Team.

Each position on the team has a different point criteria to guide the member when choosing their A-Team. The goal is to score the highest number of points by choosing an A-Team most aligned with the positions. The winner will receive AUD$3000 worth of business technology products.

Says Matt Tindale, director, marketing solutions in Australia and New Zealand for LinkedIn: "We've really enjoyed working with Honda and ZenithOptimedia to develop a concept that would allow for social sharing with their target audience. The Honda Accord A-Team campaign is another great example of a brand using LinkedIn to come up with a more creative approach to reach and engage their target audience. This is the first automotive campaign in Australia to use the LinkedIn API."

http://www.campaignbrief.com/2013/07/honda-australia-leverages-link.html