Toyota Turns to Consumers for ‘Ideas’
A Toyota campaign using the theme “Ideas for good” will seek suggestions from consumers.
Toyota Motor continues on the journey to repair its reputation with a campaign using the theme “Ideas for good,” which will seek suggestions from consumers.
The campaign, to be introduced on Monday, invites consumers to come up with new ways to use five existing Toyota Motor technologies, like the advanced parking guidance system that is available on the Toyota Prius; a lifelike human model, nicknamed Thums, that the company’s engineers employ in crash tests; and a solar-powered ventilation system, also from the Prius.
The intent, in other words, is to come up with ideas to use automotive technologies outside the realm of cars and trucks.
Toyota Motor is pledging that it will try to bring to fruition the five best ideas submitted by consumers, as judged by an independent panel.
The campaign is being created by the Toyota agency Saatchi & Saatchi, part of the Publicis Groupe, out of its Los Angeles office.
The effort marks another attempt by Toyota Motor to polish its tarnished brand and corporate image after the recalls and other problems that hurt its reputation as well as sales. In October, Toyota Motor was the only major automaker to suffer a sales decline in the United States compared with the same month last year.
“Our focus is on continuing to build Toyota brand opinion” after “all the negative publicity we’ve had this year,” said Bill Fay, group vice president for marketing at Toyota Motor Sales USA in Torrance, Calif.
The goal of the campaign is “showing how we can improve the quality of life” of consumers, he added, beyond what its products contribute.
Beginning on Monday, consumers can go to a section of the Toyota Web site to learn more about the five technologies. They will have until Feb. 28 to submit ideas, which will then be judged by a panel put together by Innocentive, a company in Waltham, Mass.
The judges will narrow the submissions to 25, said Bob Zeinstra, national manager for advertising and strategic planning at Toyota Motor Sales USA. The 25 will be announced in April. “Then, we’ll let the community vote to pick the five winners,” he added, sometime in May or June.
The company has not earmarked a specific amount of money to help bring the winning ideas to life, Mr. Zeinstra said. “Instead, we’ll see what the ideas are and budget around that.”
The campaign includes examples of how some Toyota Motor technologies are being employed outside the automotive field, among them the Thums technology being used at the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
Credit: The New York Times
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