A new American campaign from Toyota leverages the FIFA World Cup and promotes its Tundra model by offering a solution to the fact that Russsia 2018 games are very early in the morning: to help theym stay alert and awake Toyota is offering fans a bespoke branded coffee.
This fan utility campaign is led by a hero commercial which opens by admitting that the tournament kick-offs are being broadcast very early in the USA, so trumpets that Toyota Tundra ‘has something to help you see them and be awake the rest of the day at work’.
An energy boost for hard working fans – Toyota Tundra Power Coffee.
The lead spot, launched on 5 July, was developed in harness with agency Conill.
The car giant tied up with World Foods & Flavor – US importers and distributors of coffee – and the auto outfit’s marketers travelled to the Veracruz region of Mexico to create a special blend with 100% Mexican coffee beans (fusing Robusta and Arabica) to create ‘an intense roast inspired by Tundra’s relentless spirit’.
Comment:
Football fans around the world are a special breed and the World Cup is a very special tournament, so millions will wake early (or stay up until the small hours) wearing their national team shirts and putting on their game face to cheer on their team no matter what the time of day.
This initiative sees Toyota ambush the tournament and its official FIFA auto sponsor Hyundai/Kia, by rewarding them with a cup of joe.
We’ve seen innovative sponsor and ambusher marketing promotions that aim to offer fans a branded utility to help them cope with the time differences of various sports competitions around the world – particularly in international rugby union where the sport is geographically spread on opposite sides of the world.
For example, for the 2015 World Cup in England, the New Zealand All Blacks sponsor Steinlager activated through its own branded coffee in the form of a ‘Steinlatte’ (see case study), while other utilities to help fans cope with the early mornings include World Rugby partner Land Rover’s ‘Pyjamas’ for fans on the other side of the planet (see case study), the Australian Rugby Union sponsor Samsung offered ‘Alarm Apps’ (see case study)
and fellow sponsor Qantas created ‘Late Night Match Guides’ for Aussie fans (see case studies) and back in 2011 Guinness tried the alarm app idea too (see case study), while O2 gave England fans breakfast (see case study).
Of course, in the real world, coffee and late night driving have long gone together: although road safety organisations typically suggest taking a break and a nap rather than using before artificial stimulants.
With the hero video notching up 620,231 YouTube views it seems there is solid traction behind this initiative.
Links:
Toyota USA
https://www.instagram.com/toyotausa/
http://www.youtube.com/user/ToyotaUSA
Conill
