Commentary
Toyota Multicultural Director Details Evolution Of Business Approach
- by Tanya Gazdik , Staff Writer, March 24, 2016
Mia Phillips, Toyota Director of Multicultural & Brand Strategy, spoke to the audience about the automaker’s evolving approach to marketing to the growing multicultural market.
The automaker has always been a leader in multicultural marketing via agency partners Burrell, Intertrend and Conill (Saatchi & Saatchi is their lead agency, Zenith The ROI agency buys media.)
Toyota is the number one brand in all multicultural marketing —35% of sales come from multicultural market sales.
T2 Total Toyota was created to help the agencies better work together. Although it was not created as an excuse to save money, it has. It did not require a new business identity. All of the agencies work together and retain staff.
The company realized it had an opportunity when a Toyota executive was watching an NBA game and saw there different spots for the Corolla launch. Three different spots built by three different agencies and media bought by three different media groups.
Toyota had a multi-cultural challenge, this wasn’t just about three TV spots, it was about something much bigger.
Senior reporter Tanya Gazdik covers automotive, financial services, travel, sports, and pets for MediaPost's "Marketing Daily." She is the chief programmer for MediaPost's Marketing: Automotive conferences and is the lead juror for MediaPost's annual Marketing: Automotive awards. She previously was the deputy editor of MediaPost, animal welfare reporter at "The (Toledo) Blade," Detroit bureau chief of "Adweek" and associate editor at "Ward's Automotive Reports" and "Ward's AutoWorld."
