As part of a national push to promote its 2009 Matrix wagon, Toyota is marketing to Asian-Americans via sponsorship of the 26th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, which runs
through March 21.
Toyota will offer the Matrix as a free shuttle to and from opening festivities and after parties at the festival, which is the largest and oldest Asian-American
film gathering in the U.S. The Matrix will also sponsor several events during the festival, including live interviews, screenings and musical performances.
In addition to its on-site presence,
Toyota created a site, TheDirectorsChairsite.com, about the festival with reviews, recommendations, buzz and events listed, as well as images of the Matrix and links to Toyota's consumer site.
Toyota spokesperson Cindy Knight says that the campaign for the car involves a tactic the Torrance, Calif., automaker has not taken to date: launch simultaneous campaigns for African-American and
urban, Asian-American, and Hispanic markets. For these markets the company uses, respectively, Chicago-based Burrell, Long Beach, Calif.-based InterTrend and the Torrance, Calif. office of Conill.
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"Each of these campaigns is different from the other and tailored for their markets," she says, adding that the company is also doing more cultural-event sponsorships. "We are trying to reach
customers through culture, through events that are authentic."
Toyota is promoting the festival in other California markets, including San Francisco. And Toyota is also promoting Matrix through
sponsorship of Asian-American film festivals in New York, Los Angeles and San Diego until March next year.
"We are taking a more non-traditional approach with Matrix, because the target audience
is immune to traditional advertising," she says, adding that the taglines for Hispanic, African-American and Asian-American efforts are, respectively, "The Other Door," "The Fifth Door," and "The
Directors Chair." The tagline for the general market campaign, via Saatchi & Saatchi, for Matrix is "The Other You."
In the U.S., Asians comprise about 4% of the population. Those of Chinese
descent predominate, followed by Vietnamese, Korean, Asian Indians, Filipino and Japanese-Americans. Per InterTrend, the $460 million Asian-American market is the fastest-growing in the U.S., with 90%
growth between 1990 and 2006.
A spokesperson for the agency says the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival brings in about 6,000 people, the majority from the San Francisco Bay area, but
that the festival gets national coverage in Asian-American media.