• by Erik Sass , June 15, 2009

Gas Station TV and Toyota are launching a new "community-generated" TV program, "Prius Neighborhood," devoted to local events and activism. It will allow consumers to inform and organize each other about various causes, while highlighting the brand's theme of environmental responsibility and sustainability.

To promote the "Prius Neighborhood," Toyota is also running 30-second spots on GSTV, which point viewers to an interconnected group of community services and applications on the Web. The campaign coincides with the launch of the third-generation Prius, a hybrid vehicle that reduces harmful emissions by reverting to electric power in urban driving.

GSTV will broadcast to more than 1,000 stations in over 100 DMAs, including 22 of the top 25 markets.

The just-launched localized program invites viewers to submit event details by visiting a special microsite within the Gas Station TV Web site. GSTV reviews and integrates them into its rotating listing of events and organizations. The listings are also searchable on the Web site by Zip code. The events are also posted to regional Twitter pages under "@GSTVevents" and on Facebook, allowing visitors to become fans of "Prius Neighborhood," interact with each other and post events through a special Facebook application developed for Toyota.

Alongside this "Prius Neighborhood" content, Toyota is running promotional messages for the car itself, including 15-second Prius spots and other types of on-screen content.

David Leider, the CEO of Gas Station TV's parent company, Destination Media, boasted that the "Prius Neighborhood" represents a new development in the evolution of digital social media: "This is one of the first demonstrations of the next generation of social media marketing campaigns -- a TV/social media hybrid. "Today, social media is limited to reaching you via your PC or your Smartphone... GSTV's proprietary "Neighborhood" platform is a game changer," adds Leider, "because it shifts and expands the flow of dialogue, enabling people to now inform TV content."

GSTV programming also features ESPN sports, CBS news and entertainment, local weather and C-store promotions.