• by Karl Greenberg , October 10, 2014

Toyota's just-launched campaign for the 2015 Camry is about more than just the Camry. The effort, under the "Let's Go Places" brand banner, evinces a new agency working relationship, called Total Toyota (or T2), developed to make Toyota marketing communications consistent across audiences right off the blocks. 

Ethan Leighton, Camry vehicle marketing and communications manager, tells Marketing Daily it's not about making the Hispanic, or African-American — not to mention Asian — work look and feel kind of like the general market campaigns, but making the general market work transcultural — a reflection of where the American population, and Generation X, the prime target for Camry, is heading demographically. 

"It's a single approach, so really, with all of our four agencies the media and creative departments work together to develop the campaigns," he says. "When you see the finished work — whether broadcast, print or digital — it has the same look feel, or theme. Ultimately, from the customer viewpoint, it looks like a single campaign."  

The agencies — Saatchi & Saatchi, LA; Burrell Communications; Conill; InterTrend Communications; and Zenith — now come together under Saatchi LA’s stewardship to co-develop an overarching Toyota campaign idea. That becomes the guide for all of the work for all markets. For Camry, particulars of the creative campaign are unique, so the ads in Spanish use the same overall theme but the scenario is different, says Leighton. "The theme and language resonate. If someone is in market and highly acculturated and sees both versions they will connect them." The effort also has creative elements for Asian American populations, where Japanese and Korean vehicles are dominant. 

With a "One Bold Choice Leads to Another" theme, the new effort comprises all the usual digital and traditional channels, as well as custom programs, forthcoming collaborations with media partners and events. The effort kicked off last week and will roll out with six broadcast spots. All of them are essentially multicultural, and more about personal narratives than prior Camry campaigns, with each ad delivering a story about someone who is benefitting from having made a bold choice, with their new Camry playing a role.

The debut spot, for example, is about a woman who buys an old arch-top electric guitar at a storage auction. Turns out that the guitar was owned by B.B. King, whom she approaches in a bar. He plays it and signs it. In another one, a man takes a bucket-list trip with someone he hasn’t seen in far too long. 

Leighton points out another key point: The company is taking a new approach on which car is getting the focus in the campaign. Camry has two flavors, the LE, the standard version and SE, the “sportified” car. There is a luxury variant of the LE, called XLE. Now there is also an XSE, a more upmarket of the sports variant, and that is the car getting the spotlight in the campaign. "[The new Camry] is a bolder vehicle," he says. "As we were developing the 2015 Camry and talking to consumers they said 'why can't I have the XLE on the SE.' There was lots of interest in that. And we underestimated the popularity of the SE grade in the current generation. In today's mix, SE is roughly 45% of total Camry. As we move to the 2015 model year between SE and XSE it will be 50%." 

Digital includes banner ads, social media elements, video and collaborations. The iAd banners are interactive, urging visitors into a fictive driver's world that uses Apple’s gyroscope technology to give 360-degree driver perspectives bolstered with both audio and video. The creative also includes feature- and spec-specific "hotspots" and "easter eggs." 

On social the automaker partnering with Facebook for a data-driven campaign using, per Toyota, 50 pieces of content based on user interests, preferences and car shopping habits. There will also be a YouTube vector using the social channel's reigning celebs, and an interactive film on Instagram and other channels anchored by a Latin-American celebrity, where users can make "bold choices" to influence the storyline.