Toyota and Internet radio provider Pandora launched a campaign March 4 that pairs one Toyota model with a Pandora genre radio station each month. The effort will run through the beginning of 2013. The car-maker worked with AOR Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles on the effort.
At launch, the “Legends & Icons” campaign partnered the Toyota Highlander SUV with Pandora’s Top 40 genre station. The company is targeting 18-to-49-year-olds with this initial pairing, said John Trimble, chief revenue officer at Pandora, via e-mail. Consumers can view the campaign through the Web, mobile and tablet devices.
“We wanted to create a unique and custom offering that would enhance and add value to the consumer’s listening experience through artist content and music, while establishing positive brand opinion,” said Kim Kyaw, senior social media strategist at Toyota, via e-mail.
Kyaw added that Toyota customers can promote the campaign via Facebook and Twitter. “We are hoping for viral impressions through early listeners sharing with their social graph,” she said.
Kyaw did not say what data Toyota will collect during the campaign, or how it could be used for remarketing.
The automaker conducted internal market research to identify drivers’ musical tastes for each of its models, Toyota said in a statement. It used this information to determine what genre stations and automobiles should be partnered.
Toyota and Pandora are promoting the campaign through their “social communities,” said Kyaw. Trimble said Pandora is also hosting a dedicated landing page featuring campaign creative.
Toyota said at January’s Consumer Electronics Show that it will add Pandora to its Entune multimedia platform, which will allow drivers or passengers to access sites like Bing and MovieTickets.com through their mobile phones. Toyota is expected to debut cars featuring Entune later this year.
