Toyota Wants to Be as American as Apple Pie

From Detroit Free Press

DETROIT — As Toyota Motor Corp. prepares to launch a new Tundra early next year, get ready to see the truck at events that reek of Americana : country music concerts, chili cook-offs and high school football games.

The Tundra, Toyota ‘s first true full-size pickup, will be featured in a commercial during the most American of spectacles, the NFL Super Bowl, said Jim Farley, vice president for marketing for Toyota U.S. sales.

The heart of the campaign, though, will be reaching customers through community events, Farley said.

Convincing truck buyers to consider a Tundra will take a grassroots effort, he said. The launch of the new pickup reflects the Japanese automaker’s ongoing efforts to present itself as a natural thread in the fabric of American culture.

"We’ll do all the fancy stuff," Farley said. "At the end of the day, everyone is doing that. What’s really going to distinguish our marketing is what we do at a bass fishing event in Montgomery , AL ."

With many experts predicting Toyota soon will pass General Motors Corp. as the world’s largest automaker, the company is going to great lengths to become the home team – even in places like Texas and Kentucky .

Next year, Toyota expects to triple the money it spends on marketing its vehicles directly to consumers.

Toyota has worked out deals to market the new trucks in 84 Lumber and Bass Pro Shops. It recently provided a fleet of courtesy vehicles for use by the Future Farmers of America at the organization’s national convention in Indianapolis . And Toyota is preparing to enter NASCAR, a sport that should put the Toyota name in front of hard-core truck buyers each weekend.

From a broader corporate standpoint, Toyota already has been trying to warm up to American customers.

The Japanese automaker is airing TV commercials, showing a Toyota Solara winding down a country road or touting the economic benefits that its plants have provided to U.S. cities.

Toyota ‘s attempt to weave itself into the fabric of local communities is a critical step to ensuring long-term success in the United States , said Mike Bernacchi, a marketing professor at the University of Detroit Mercy .

Toyota needs to make an emotional connection with customers, Bernacchi said. That way, Toyota can make sure it’s not seen as a giant, heartless company, he said. "Being No. 1 in sales is not enough," Bernacchi said. "Being No. 1 in the hearts and souls is really where it’s at because then it grows. Then, you have a brand that’s not just skin-deep."

As Toyota tries to win more truck buyers with its Tundra, the company faces its toughest crowd, Bernacchi said.

The truck moves Toyota into a market that remains almost entirely domestic. More than 90 percent of U.S. full-size truck sales go to GM, Ford or Dodge.

Toyota would not say how much it will spend on its Tundra campaign, but Farley said it will be Toyota ‘s largest U.S. advertising campaign ever.