2011 Silver Effie Winner Swagger Wagon Viral Video Category: Single Impact Engagement Brand/Client: Toyota Motor Sales, Inc Primary Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi LA Strategic Challenge The vehicle no one wants Poor minivans. They are the most maligned and under-appreciated vehicles in the industry. Most people see them as a sign that the driver behind the wheel has given up on having a life of their own instead, they ve become enslaved to their children. Minivans emasculate dads and frumps-up moms. No one really wants one but they succumb to the ease and efficiency minivans provide for family transportation. That was the challenge facing Toyota s redesigned Sienna to make their unloved minivan desirable. Opportunity lends a hand The advertising launched in February 2010 and was starting to make inroads with a humorous campaign called Mommy Like/Daddy Like. While the campaign was introduced on TV, a call-to-action drove viewers to YouTube to watch product demos cleverly disguised as funny day-in-the-life vignettes of our Sienna spokes-mommy and daddy. But an opportunity presented itself two months later that would allow Toyota to really dial up the fun, the engagement and the impact. That s when Toyota introduced the SE grade a sleeker, sportier, head-turning (for a minivan) version of the standard model. Objectives Our objectives were to: Generate buzz make Sienna the talk of the blogosphere (as measured by social media reporting tools)
Create an opportunity for viewers to interact with the creative, thus helping to promote the vehicle The Big Idea A rap music video starring Sienna s more stylish SE grade swagger wagon. We Listened Our audience literally started the ball rolling on this. Knowing that our target fully understands that the sad-sack image of minivan-driving parents is totally bogus, we created the Sienna Family headed by a mom and dad who are totally convinced of their awesomeness and that the vehicle they drive has the same awesome style and swagger. In fact, in the introductory spot and video, the dad refers to his new Sienna as his swagger wagon. The term caught on like wild fire. Within weeks of the campaign launch, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube were abuzz with references to the term. The Swagger Wagon. I don t even have kids and I want that minivan I know you re jealous of my swagger wagon. I love the swagger wagon commercial with the dad driving the Sienna. (Source: Facebook,Twitter postings) Bringing the Idea to Life An infusion of fun First, our target told us what they liked early in the campaign TV spots and video, and their discussions showed they were having a little bit of fun with it themselves, organically using the term Swagger Wagon when referring to their own Siennas. Second, Toyota launched the SE Grade, which was definitely a sleeker, more stylish version of this Sienna. This gave Toyota license to go all-out and to get even more people talking and sharing and what could have more swagger than a totally in-your-face rap video parody with our oh-so awesome Sienna Family in da house. Third, we seeded the video with just enough media to drive it over the edge without making it feel like advertising or pushing a message. The intent was to let the fans own it, spread it and interact with it. Key video distribution platforms (like Funny or Die and Break.com) were selected and a minor amount of paid promotion (like a YouTube homepage takeover) put the video out there with the hope that the audience would take it viral.
Communications Touch Points TV Spots Branded Content Sponsorship Product placement Radio Spots Merchandising Program/content Print Trade/Professional Newspaper - print Newspaper - digital Magazine - print Magazine digital Print partnership Direct Mail Email PR Events Packaging Product Design Cinema Interactive Online Ads Web site Viral video Video skins/bugs Social Networking Sites Podcasts Gaming Mobile Phone Other OOH Airport Transit Billboard Place Based Other Trade Shows Sponsorship Retail Experience POP Video In-Store Merchandizing Sales Promotion Retailtainment Guerrilla Street Teams Tagging Wraps Buzz Marketing Ambient Media Sampling/Trial Consumer Involvement WOM Consumer Generated Viral Other Social media programs on Facebook (status updates, contests, photo submissions, community polls), celebrity tweets, and downloadable ringtones/mp3 s Additional Marketing Components: None. Reach: National. Total Media Expenditure: Under $500 thousand. Results Objective #1: Generate buzz make Sienna the talk of the blogosphere (as measured by social media reporting tools) The buzz we generated was fast and furious. The Swagger Wagon video was posted May 2nd. What happened next? Day 2 Fans generated tweets at an average of 115 per hour. Day 4 YouTube views climbed by 10,000 every hour. Day 7 Swagger Wagon video received over 1.7 million views across all platforms (in
one day alone, it saw 400,000 views) Day 18 Total views reached in excess of 2.4 million. 1 Month later (June 3rd) Swagger Wagon was named the 3rd Most Shared viral video and #1 Viewed Sponsored YouTube Channel for the month of May. (Sources: YouTube Insights, icerocket.com Real Time Twitter search) Importantly, it contributed greatly to raising the profile of Sienna. Memorability of the overall ad campaign climbed 15 percentage points after the viral video s release. Source: IAG, Toyota Sienna Ad Performance Summary, Data through August 15th, 2010 The Swagger Wagon video sent the campaign s online viewership numbers into the stratosphere. - Swagger Wagon music video alone earned over 6 million views - The video gave the Sienna YouTube channel the majority of its 11.4 million viewers - Engagement resulted from 1.3 million+ views from rips/reposts Objective #2: Create an opportunity for viewers to interact with the creative, thus helping to promote the vehicle Most importantly, the audience was the driver behind this effort. Only 3% of the total views for the video came from advertising. The vast majority was propelled by the involvement of the viewers and their desire to talk about and share the Swagger Wagon video with friends online. Accordingly to Unruly Media s Viral Video Chart, Swagger Wagon was the 2nd most contagious video during the 30 days after it was posted. Who would have believed a minivan would have received so much attention? (Source: YouTube Insights, Viral Video Chart, Unruly Media).
Soon, over 40 Swagger Wagon fan pages appeared on Facebook where the writers could boast about their own swagger. (Source: Facebook). The level of engagement and involvement became really evident when we started seeing parodies, spoofs and homemade versions posted and shared by viewers. All this excitement did not go unnoticed by the press. The Swagger Wagon crashed further into popular culture by being featured in over 150 various news shows, magazines, blogs and forums. (Source:TMS Public Relations). Finally, with the added attention the Swagger Wagon video brought to Toyota s YouTube Channel, the brand saw a significant increase in this medium s Advertising Persuasion score versus the overall Toyota TV Average. Source: Hall & Partners: Toyota Sienna Redesign Launch Study; Data from 2/3-8/1/10. Summary: Minivans are the laughing stock of the automotive world. The vehicle no one really wants to own but they do so because it s the right vehicle for families. So it was a huge challenge for Toyota to get parents to actually desire their newly redesigned Sienna much less make it the vehicle people want to talk about. But by listening to the online chatter, Toyota spotted an opportunity that would make their minivan the star of the blogosphere and a YouTube sensation. As a result, even people without kids wanted a swagger wagon. Anything else going on that might have helped drive results? No other factors.