• by Karl Greenberg , October 3, 2006

Toyota will target die-hard truckers with a national "True Truckers" campaign breaking in February, in conjunction with the launch of its Tundra full-sized pickup truck.

With the effort, Toyota hopes to steal share from Ford and General Motors where they are strongest, and then keep it by offering its first pickup with features and options that are competitive with the market's leaders.

The campaign, via Saatchi & Saatchi, Torrance, borrows tactics torn from the playbook Toyota used to launch the youth-focused Scion division in 2003, the company says. The effort will deploy regional events and lifestyle publications targeting contractors, ranchers, landscapers, and others for whom the pickup truck is an everyday vehicle.

Toyota is also borrowing heavily from Ford, Dodge and Chevrolet. Just like the Big Three, which still own 80 percent of the truck market, Toyota will tie in with country music stars, Nascar, football, and activities popular among the field and stream demographic: outdoor activities, car and motorcycle motorsports, construction, and home improvement.

Earnest Bastien, vice president of automotive operations for Toyota, says the sales target for the new truck is 200,000 units per year. "That is a big step for us, but a big piece of that will be retaining those [current Toyota automobile owners] who go to other brands to buy pickup trucks."

Bastien says the new campaign is Toyota's largest grassroots and targeted marketing effort to date. Spending was not disclosed.

Bastien says the campaign will focus more on vehicle features and attributes, and less on the kind of appeal to nationalism and loyalty that GM and Ford have used for pickup truck advertising. (Ironically, Toyota is also using a patriotic appeal in its corporate ads.)

Toyota will try to buff its country credibility with cross-promotional activity around a country music act that puts the duo of Brooks and Dunn in ads, and promotes Tundra on the group's 47-city "Long Haul" tour.

Ford, for the last three years, has sponsored country star Toby Keith--who appears in Ford ads, and brings the F-150 onstage during his concerts. Like Ford and Keith, Brooks and Dunn will open their concerts with a video showing the artists with the Tundra.

Still, Bastien says, while Toyota's research suggests that 30 percent of truck buyers who come to market are willing to shift brands, "it's more important to us to slow outflow of Toyota owners to other brands." He says 20 percent of existing Tundra owners still purchased competitive full-sized pickup trucks when they returned to market.

He noted that the exodus from Toyota was due mostly to the lack of Tundra models and options. "We think that will change with the new model," he said, explaining that the new Tundra offers many variations and options in terms of pickup bed size, cabin size, owner options, and interior amenities.

Toyota will also borrow tactics from motorcycle makers like Kawasaki, whose "Team Green" program for amateur racer development seems to be the template for Toyota's forthcoming TMX Rider Program, which will support motocross riders at amateur races.

Toyota's national campaign elements include exclusive sponsorship of the NFL Sunday night half-time shows on NBC, called "Toyota Halftime Report," and a sponsorship of ESPN football coverage, which includes ESPN's television, radio, magazine, and Web site.

Toyota will also sponsor the Nascar Sprint Nextel Cup, and present a Toyota Zone at the AMA Toyota Motocross Championship and at the AMA Toyota Arenacross Series.

Outdoor event sponsorships include official sponsorship of the Citgo Bassmaster Tournament Trail, and a "Fish with a Pro" promotion in which fans can win a day of fishing with the Toyota Angler Team.