Toyota is breaking the bank for the relaunch of its redesigned Camry, spending more than $175 million in an ad blitz for the car, which the company considers its top brand. "It is the franchise," said
client corporate manager of marketing communications Kim McCollough. "We're trying to surprise and inspire people. It will appear to current owners and talk about things they don't expect to have in a
Camry, speaking to potential new owners and fence-sitters." The theme of the first commercials, as expressed in a voiceover, is "When does a car become more?" McCullough said. The spots are centered
on the carmaker's factory floor in Kentucky and show American workers assembling Camrys. The campaign goes beyond TV advertising and includes some new marketing methods as well. They include floor
clings in the allergy-medication aisles of major drugstore chains boasting of the Camry's "plasmacluster" ion generator for better interior air, and sponsorship of Weather.com's pollen-count
reporting. The new Camry is expected to compete in the most hotly contested part of the market, against Nissan's Altima, Chevrolet's Malibu, Ford's Fusion, the Mazda 6, a new Chrysler Sebring, Dodge
Stratus and perpetual runner-up Honda Accord.
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