Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.

AuthorGuy Cunningham, Mcnamer, Teague, Brady
Pages1631-1650

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19001 S. Western Avenue

Torrance, California 90509

USA

Telephone: (310) 468-4000

Fax: (310) 381-7800

Web site: www.toyota.com

A CAR TO BE PROUD OF CAMPAIGN
OVERVIEW

Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., was the subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corp. charged with selling, marketing, and distributing the Toyota, Lexus, and Scion brands in the United States. The Toyota Corolla was the first line of cars Toyota ever introduced in the United States, and it had long been one of the most successful lines in the world. In 2002 Toyota launched the ninth generation of the Corolla with a campaign titled "A Car to Be Proud Of." This campaign came on the heels of a disappointing year for Corolla sales; in 2002 sales declined by nearly 50,000 units from the previous year.

Saatchi & Saatchi, an ad agency with long-standing ties to Toyota, developed and administered the $30 million-plus campaign. Conill Advertising and the Burrell Communications Group were also enlisted to conduct campaigns targeting the Latino and African-American communities, respectively. The campaign was designed to appeal to younger consumers, particularly those aged 25 to 35. This image-conscious group often saw the Corolla as a staid, overly practical automobile. To change that perception Saatchi & Saatchi released daring commercials such as "Key Party." In this spot a roomful of men at a swingers' key party looked on anxiously as a heavyset woman took her turn choosing a set of keys that would determine with whom she would go home. Despite the men's reluctance to be matched up with her, when she picked the keys to a Corolla, everyone rose to claim them. The spot closed with the tagline "A Car to Be Proud Of."

The campaign was a hit with critics, and it won a Silver Lion (Cars category) at the 2002 Cannes International Advertising Festival and a 2004 Silver Clio Award. It also led to a sales boost: 262,064 Toyota Corolla units were sold in 2003, versus only 195,767 units the previous year.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

By the end of the twentieth century Japanese car company Toyota was producing more than 5.5 million units per year, making it one of the largest auto manufacturers in the world. The Corolla was originally introduced to the Japanese market in 1966. Two years later it became the first Toyota car launched in the United States. The original Corolla was small, affordable, and dependable. Because Americans in the 1960s often had a negative view of the performance of Japanese-made vehicles, establishing a reputation for quality was important for Toyota.

Once Toyota had established the Corolla as a quality automobile, it worked on making it more attractive to consumers. In the 1970s it made the car larger and added horsepower to the engine. These improvements appealed

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to car buyers, and the Corolla became one of the most successful cars in the world. By the late 1970s and early 1980s Toyota had added sport coupé, hatchback, and liftback versions to the Corolla line. The Corolla underwent a major redesign in 1988, with the liftback being phased out in favor of a new front-wheel-drive coupé. In an effort to keep the car fresh Toyota redesigned the Corolla several more times over the years. The Corolla's reputation only grew, and by 1997 it was the best-selling car in the world.

By 2003 it was time for Toyota to reimagine the Corolla once more. Sales in 2002 had been disappointing. In contrast to a successful 2001, during which Toyota moved 242,750 units of the Corolla line, sales in 2002 sagged to 195,767 units. Because the Corolla was among the most visible automobiles in its fleet, Toyota viewed this nearly 50,000—unit decline as cause for concern.

In terms of units sold, Corolla was still one of the most popular cars in the world, a result in large part of a reputation for being a long-lasting, high-performing machine. It was, however, viewed by younger buyers as an unglamorous, uncool car. Toyota's traditional marketing approach played into this image. The company had focused on its vehicles' performance instead of on the design. One of Toyota's best-known campaigns, "Oh, What a Feeling," was sometimes parodied because each spot closed with a scene in which the Toyota driver jumped up, overcome with excitement after driving his Toyota. The spots were earnest and unflashy, just like the Corolla itself.

TARGET MARKET

Toyota set a goal of selling 230,000 units for model year 2003. It wanted to expand Corolla's market share further by attracting a new population of drivers. The car had always performed well with middle-class drivers, especially families, but among the automaker's biggest challenges was a perception that the steady, reliable Corolla was also a dull car. To address this problem Toyota decided on a two-pronged approach. First, Toyota redesigned the Corolla with an eye toward making the car more aesthetically pleasing to consumers. It had been several years since the Corolla had been significantly redesigned, and some consumers were growing bored with the older look. Next, the company introduced the Toyota Matrix, a new line built on the Corolla platform. The Matrix featured a sleeker design to appeal to single car buyers in their 20s.

This approach kept Toyota from spreading the Corolla too thin. Rather than expecting the Corolla to be all things to all people, Toyota used the Matrix to take pressure off the older vehicle line. While the Corolla would have a sleeker look, the Matrix could push that even further because there was no risk of alienating an existing audience. Toyota could go forward with its efforts to reach young compact-car buyers without worrying that the existing Toyota compact-car audience was being overlooked. Between the two vehicles, Toyota hoped to have the entire compact segment covered.

While the Matrix was aimed at image-conscious singles who ordinarily might not buy a subcompact car, the Corolla was still geared toward the traditional sub-compact market. But the company also wanted to attract more buyers in the 25- to 35-year-old range. Often Corolla buyers were in their 40s, and the company felt that younger car buyers were an untapped market. Therefore, the "Car to Be Proud Of" campaign's concentration was on consumers aged 20 to 29.

OOBEYA

The new Corolla was designed according to the Japanese principle of oobeya, which roughly translated to English as "big, open office." Rather than adhering to a rigid, hierarchical system to conceive and build the new Corolla, the entire design team, from engineers to marketers, worked together to make the Corolla succeed. That meant that sales, engineering, marketing, and other departments all had input on how the new Corolla looked and what kind of special features it had. From sales and marketing professionals, designers learned what consumers liked about previous editions of the Corolla and what features drivers did and did not respond to. That feedback led to the introduction of a CD-player option for the Corolla.

The most important aspect of oobeya, however, was the way it improved communication. Logistical problems were caught early, saving money for the company. For example, the only North American plant that made Corollas with sunroofs was in Canada, even though far more consumers in the United States purchased that option. Engineers pointed out that making the sunroofed Corollas in California would save transportation costs. This helped Toyota keep the Corolla's price below $20,000.

COMPETITION

Toyota's primary rivals were two other Asia-based automobile manufacturers: Honda Motor Company and

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Nissan Motor Corp. Both were expanding their North American manufacturing in the early 2000s, which many observers felt would help the companies to build customer loyalty in the American market. The Honda Civic and Nissan Sentra were particularly strong competitors against the Corolla, since both were imported cars in the compact segment. Other major imports that competed with the Corolla were the Mitsubishi Lancer and the Mazda Protegé. Because of its sleek exterior the Protegé in particular attracted a younger, hipper consumer than the Corolla. The Ford Focus also provided the Toyota Corolla with some competition.

Toyota had been making serious inroads against these competitors in the late 1990s and early 2000s. While the automaker had an 8.8 percent share of the U.S. market in 1998, that had risen to more than 9 percent by 2000. By October 2003 Toyota controlled 11.2 percent of the U.S. market.

MARKETING STRATEGY

Toyota earmarked upwards of $30 million for the campaign. It designated Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles to implement it. Saatchi & Saatchi was a major worldwide advertising agency whose parent company, the Publicis Groupe, was Europe's largest communications company. The agency had handled a number of campaigns for Toyota Motor...

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