• by Aaron Baar , July 28, 2008

After five years of selling itself as a car that can reflect one's individuality, Scion is looking to celebrate its community of individual owners via a new marketing campaign that showcases how owners come together via their customized vehicles.

"Five years ago, when we started, we were all about personalization," Dawn Ahmed, corporate manager for Scion, tells Marketing Daily. "One of the things that surprised us was how quickly people took ownership of our brand and the passion they have for it."

The cornerstone of the new effort is a 60-second commercial, which began running in movie theaters over the weekend. The commercial shows Scion owners coming together in the Nevada desert. On a stage, an emcee addresses the crowd of owners, pointing out the different models--from xAs, xBs, tCs and xDs--they have brought together. "It is that which makes us different that brings us together," the emcee declares.

The spot ends with the Scion logo and its five-year-old tagline, "What moves you." An additional tagline, "United by Individuality," also appears. "It's more of a campaign idea than a second tagline," Ahmed says. "We wanted to showcase the fact that Scion owners want to come together and they do so over customization."

Other elements of the campaign will roll out over the next 18 months. The cinema ad will begin airing on broadcast and cable on Aug. 4. Also in early August, the first round of print ads will appear. The first round will involve a gatefold spread, showcasing all of the customized Scions that appeared at the shoot. Billboards featuring individual owners' Scions will run in 22 markets through October.

"It's almost like a new brand campaign that presents a community in a much stronger way than it has in the past," says Simon Needham, creative director of ATTIK, the agency that created the campaign. "But obviously, the takeaway we want is the sense of community ... It's a celebration of our owners and an expression for other people that they want to be a part of [that community]."

Community-building is an important part of Scion's marketing efforts. In the coming months, the company will unveil an online effort that will further bring the community of Scion owners together, Ahmed says. She and Scion president Jack Hollis make a point of visiting owners groups in various cities around the U.S., she says--providing a way for the company to continue growing its relationship with the owners and owner groups as a way of building its brand and sales, Ahmed says.

"Working with a community is one of the most important things a brand can do," she says.