• by Larissa Faw , August 6, 2016

Toyota and its agency Saatchi LA are celebrating teamwork in a new ad campaign that launched with a 60-second spot during NBC's Olympic Opening Ceremonies broadcast Friday, August 5. 

The "Stand Together" ad features people across the world, from Toyota team members to skydivers to “Team Toyota” Olympic athletes Summer Sanders and Amy Purdy all joining hands and celebrating teamwork.  

A special 90-minute online extended cut version of the spot runs on Toyota’s YouTube channel.

These commercials include a call-to-action to encourage people to create videos joining hands and sharing them using the campaign hashtag, #LetsJoinHands. Toyota will donate $20 to United Way per video, up to $250,000. In addition, Toyota will mix content from user and influencer submissions into pre-roll and social videos, continuously delivering fresh edits throughout the media run.

In addition to broadcast TV, the campaign will use outdoor advertising and social media elements built around the teamwork theme. Toyota is installing the #LetsJoinHands outdoor touchboard that combines live video feeds with real-time collaborative drawing tools -- such as tweets or emojis -- to create a dialogue between users in New York City’s Herald Square and the Hollywood & Highland Center in Los Angeles from August 12-14. Users have the opportunity to email or tweet video captures of their drawing sessions directly from the screens. 

"By giving people a chance to engage with technology and people in unexpected ways, the campaign extends and redefines what it means to join hands and we hope to start a conversation around teamwork,” said Jason Schragger, chief creative officer, Saatchi LA. 

“Toyota is a brand that is founded on the power of movement and over the decades has enabled people to move forward and explore," stated Schragger. This campaign "is a reflection of the physical and emotional places we can go and the goals we can achieve together," he says.