LONDON – The&Partnership has launched its first work for Toyota since winning the combined creative, media and digital business for Toyota Motor Europe last November.
This month, The&Partnership will begin the roll-out of a multi-channel, multi-market, long-running ‘We Choose Hybrid’ platform – highlighting Toyota’s position as a market leader in hybrid technology, with a larger customer-base and larger range of hybrid models than any other automotive manufacturer.
As more and more drivers move away from diesel engines in favour of hybrid vehicles, ‘We Choose Hybrid’ aims to increase interest in hybrid cars across a broader demographic of ‘progressive mainstream’ consumers Europe-wide, educating and informing people about how the technology works and debunking the myths surrounding hybrid.
The ‘We Choose Hybrid’ platform consists of more than 150 pieces of brand-led, product-led and educational digital content. This wide-ranging suite of content has been built based on data-driven insights about the current perceptions of hybrid across European markets, and aims to address the most common barriers to purchase, whether emotional, functional or social.
In a sophisticated digital media strategy from The&Partnership’s media agency m/SIX, consumers will be targeted with a level of information tailored to their varying levels of understanding of hybrid technology – aiming to address and overcome the barriers most likely to affect them.
Responding to individual consumers’ engagement levels, the campaign will provide an increasing depth of information as time goes on, as well as serving up more model-specific information to those in the market for a new car.
The platform will be supported by a TV and cinema commercial, airing across Europe this month to mark the start of the campaign. The film will celebrate the breadth and diversity of Toyota’s growing Hybrid customer-base which, at 10 million and rising, outstrips any other car manufacturer.
Supported concurrently across print and out-of-home, the film aims to remind viewers that hybrid engines are no longer the preserve of a small percentage of environmentally conscious drivers, as well as highlighting the power, beauty and progressive design of Toyota’s market-leading range of seven hybrid models – again, a larger offering than any other manufacturer.
Dario Giustini, Senior Manager Brand and Communications, at Toyota Motor Europe said: “At Toyota, we are proud to be world leaders in hybrid technology – with a growing customer-base of 10 million Toyota Hybrid drivers. We wanted a progressive, customer-centric, communications campaign – aiming to inform and educate as well as driving awareness of our market-leading range of seven hybrid models. We hope our ‘We Choose Toyota’ platform will inspire many more people to join this rapidly growing movement.”
Andre Moreira, Executive Creative Director – Team Toyota at The&Partnership, said: “Our data showed that most drivers still have a limited understanding of the benefits offered by hybrid technology, and that there were significant misconceptions about the people who choose hybrid vehicles (no, they’re not all tree-huggers). The ‘We Choose Hybrid’ platform aims to remove those misconceptions by celebrating the 10 million progressive drivers who already made that Hybrid choice.”
Dan Whitmarsh, Global Chief Strategy Officer at The&Partnership’s media agency m/SIX, said: “This first project for Toyota is a great example of our integrated model in action. Working as one team, we used audience decision data to inform not just the media strategy but also the creative development, ensuring the right assets got produced in the first place. As ‘We Choose Hybrid’ rolls out across Europe, Toyota can be confident not just of having the best possible targeting and optimisation, but also that its platform of more than 150 pieces of content has the answers to all the questions people care about.”
‘We Choose Hybrid’ will break first in France, Italy, Sweden and Norway, before rolling out across Germany and the UK in early October.
The&Partnership was appointed last November to consolidate Toyota’s pan-European creative, content, digital and media planning and buying business.
In April, the agency group opened 16 new offices across 15 countries in Europe to support both Toyota and its luxury marque Lexus across Europe – bringing together all marketing disciplines to work closely alongside the client’s local marketing teams, and reporting back to The&Partnership’s headquarters in London.
