Toyota leveraged its IOC global partnership around the 2018 Winter Olympics with a blend of international and local market work filtered through its ‘Start Your Impossible’ initiative (which first launched in October 2017 – see case study) to bring to life its new ‘Mobility For All’ positioning.
The Japanese headquartered automotive giant is using the Olympics as a global platform based on unification to spearhead its transformation from a car company to a mobility company.
The global campaign and concept, created in harness with Saatchi & Saatchi and Dentsu, has taken more than a year to develop and is built on the twin creative pillars of ‘inspiration’ (celebrating the human spirit) and product ‘evidence’ (showcasing Toyota’s ideas for innovations that can help people move freely).
None of the Olympics ad pieces feature existing Toyota products because the Corola is the one, lone Toyota vehicle that is sold globally.
The PyeongChang phase of the sponsor’s global activation, developed with a strategy that equally balances Olympic and Paralympic work, is fronted by 10 different spots running in 27 countries.
The lead spot, ‘Mobility Anthem’, sets out the brand’s mobility manifesto and positioning and was rolled out initially through Toyota Global’s platforms from November 2017.
But the work began breaking at different times in different markets: for example, in the US, Toyota USA broke its Olympics campaign during the Super Bowl with a shorter, 30-second version of the same manifesto lead spot.
(Which, in the USA during the Super Bowl, was also joined by Toyota USA’s multi-religion unity ‘One Team’ spot specifically leveraging the brand’s sponsorship of the USA Olympic Team).
The core IOC campaign then further evolved through a set of themed spots to highlight the brand’s commitment to issues such as climate preservation in the form of ‘Frozen’,
mobility robotics and AI in ‘Magic’,
and ‘Runner’.
Plus a set of inspirational Team Toyota ambassador ads often amplified on a local basis and linked to country-specific Olympic committee tie-ups like ‘Lanes Of Life’,
‘Thin Ice’ (featuring skater Ashley Wagner),
‘Good Odds’ (which highlights the story of Canadian Para alpine skier Lauren Woolstencroft who overcame tremendous odds to become a legendary Paralympic gold medallist),
refugee Olympic swimmer Rami Anis,
and ‘As I Really Am’ (a beautifully shot film created with The & Partnership that tells the stirring strength and determination story of Italian world champion wheelchair fencer Beatrice ‘Bebe’ Vio who came back to fencing after having her limbs amputated due to meningitis).
Others in the series of contemplative, bittersweet stories of persistence include films featuring US Paralympian and war veteran Brad Snyder,
US snowboarder Hailey Langland,
American Paralympian Tatyana McFadden,
Australian Paralympic Michael Milton,
South African runner Zola Budd,
South African Paralympian Tyrone Pillay,
Nigerian bobsledder Seun Adigun,
and British 87-year-old World boxing champion Barbara Buttrick.
These content pieces are all linked by the campaign #StartYourImpossible hashtag and aim to drive viewers to learn more about all of Toyota’s mobility ideas at MobilityForAll.com.
In addition to YouTube, the content spans Toyota’s global and local digital and social platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
These ads also span multiple formats from longer form film to micro-spots.
Indeed, Toyota has exclusive rights in some markets to quick/short-format ads – such as several six-second ads in the USA (an internet-inspired format designed to land a message before consumers tune out).
“We believe that everybody has a right as human being to be able to move,” explains Laukes.
“And that’s whether something as easy as getting out of bed in the morning to being able to go to the store, or to the doctor, or to wherever you need to go. We believe it’s a human right and we are going to evolve into that company that’s going to allow every human to be able to do that.”
Interestingly, some local market focus on different variants: for example, the Paralympic TV ads cannot be shown in China because of the markets local laws forbidding the use of anyone with a mental or physical disability in advertising.
This Winter Olympic work marks the first phase of a worldwide Olympic/Paralympic ‘mobility partner’ partnership programme that will ramp up in the run up to the Tokyo 2020 Games.
“This is [Toyota Motor Co. President] Akio Toyoda’s vision around the Olympics and using that platform,” adds Laukes.
“It’s a big deal for the company and also personally for Akio and his legacy and the Toyota legacy. The last time the Olympics were in Japan was when they introduced the Shinkansen [bullet train in 1964], and that revolutionized rail as we know it around the planet. So the pressure is on.”
“It was a very strong and amazing journey watching two massive agencies that came together for the brand with zero resistance,” adds Laukes.
Comment:
Wow!
Following a rights fee reported to be worth $1bn, the cost of this kind of global activation makes this IOC sponsorship spend jaw dropping.
When Toyota Motor Corporation penned a global Olympic ‘mobility partnership’ back in 2015 it became the first car company to join the IOC’s top-tier marketing program (previously the car category was a domestic sponsorship space).
It is also notable that Toyota is the first IOC global partner to sponsor and activate the Olympics and Paralympics equally.
“We were the ones that pioneered bringing the Paralympic and the US Olympic marks together” in a single effort,” says Ed Laukes, VP for Toyota marketing VP Ed Laukes.
“We championed that and partners such as the US Olympic Committee was extremely receptive to that.”
It is also worth noting that despite the mammoth size and scale of this global push, on-site in PyeongChang there is little direct presence from the IOC’s official automotive partner Toyota.
Indeed, it is the rival and local Korean car behemoth Hyundai that is far more visible and which is making its own experiential and at-event statements in and around PyeongChang (see case study).
This is because, despite Toyota’s IOC global deal and unlike most other global Olympic sponsors (like Coca-Cola and Visa), its is Hyundai that holds PyeongChang domestic sponsorship rights.
In fact, Hyundai/Kia had been part of the 10-year Korean campaign to host the games.
Thus it is hard to spot the IOC car partner Toyota activating around the event in Korea.
Its cars don’t form the Olympic fleet, the logo is practically nowhere to be seen and only visiting Toyota officials from other markets can wear Olympic branding on their clothing).
Toyota knew before penning its IOC deal three years ago that these Korean Games, like the South Korean car market itself, are essentially ‘owned’ by local car giant Hyundai/Kia.
Indeed, Toyota signed its nine-year IOC in 2015 after PyeongChang was awarded the Games and after Hyundai/Kia had secured domestic car category rights.
But then again, traditionally, it is the international ad campaign that really drives revenue for global TOP IOC partners.
Links:
Toyota
https://www.facebook.com/ToyotaSpecialShowroom/
http://www.youtube.com/user/TOYOTAglobal
https://www.mobilityforall.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/ToyotaUSA
https://www.instagram.com/toyotausa/
IOC
https://www.youtube.com/user/olympic
https://www.olympicchannel.com/en/
https://www.facebook.com/OlympicChannel/
https://www.instagram.com/olympicchannel/
https://twitter.com/olympicchannel
Saatchi & Saatchi USA
Dentsu
http://www.theandpartnership.com/
