Toyota: Toyota Barista

Credits & Description:

Brand: Toyota Hybrid
Advertiser: Toyota Motor Corporation
Agency: Adk, Tokyo
Creative Director: Fumitaka Takano
Copywriter: Satoshi Otsuka/Hirokazu Matsushige/Hiroyuki Kubo/Ryusuke Dohi/Takuya Sejima
Art Director: Hiroyuki Kubo
Frontend Engineer: Masayuki Emi/Shogo Matsuda
Illustrator: Michael Lam
Cg Designer: Satoshi Shirai
Motion Designer: Masayuki Iizuka
Account Executive: Akira Takahashi
Film Production Company: Tyo Inc. Tyo Productions1, Tokyo
Director: Kensaku Kakimoto
Cinematographer: Masaya Nakahara
Gaffer: Tetsu Moritera
Executive Producer: Shunichi Takano
Production Manager: Kenji Aritomo/Kazunori Kato/Kintaro Asato
Production Designer: Ryo Nobuka
Casting Director: Mizuki Horiuchi
Hair & Make-Up: Kaori Ichikawa
Editor: Hiroki Yamaoka/Yuta Miyagi
Mixer: Hiroshi Watanabe
Sound Production Company: Melody Punch, Tokyo
Sound Studio Producer: Toru Midorikawa/Hiroyuki Kawazoe
Print Production Company: 1-10design, Inc., Kyoto
Print Producer: Hirokazu Matsushige
Production Manager 2: Takuya Sejima
Campaign Summary: The English Skills Of The Japanese Are Poor, Not Only Compared To Industrialized Countries, But Even Compared To Asian Countries. Various Companies Have Attempted Language-Support Services To Help Improve Their English Skills, But In Vain. Meanwhile, Air New Zealand, The One And Only Airline That Operates Direct Flights Between Narita And Auckland, Was In Urgent Need For A Solution To Improve Its Very Low Name Recognition. To Solve English Language Issues For The Japanese And To Raise Brand Awareness, Air New Zealand Launched “English Lessons In The Sky”, The Worlds First English-Conversation Lesson Service Run By An Airline Company. “English Lessons In The Sky” Contained One-On-One Lessons By The Air New Zealand Cabin Crew Related To Inflight Services, Nz And The 11-Hour Flight, Together With Online Teaching Material Including “One Phrase Lessons,” Review Tests And Vocabulary Lessons Where 50 New Zealanders Teach Authentic New Zealand English. All Of These Content Were Offered For Free. This Approach Attracted Great Attention Online, And Was Discussed In Over 80 Media. The Campaign Contributed Greatly In Improving The Brand Image Of Air New Zealand, Gaining Over 1
000 Positive Comments On Its Facebook Page, And 10,000 Applicants Who Took The Review Test And Applied For The Present Campaign. Moreover, The Campaign Succeeded In Delivering Users To The Ticket Sales Site For Direct Flights By Up To 171% Compared To The Previous Year.
The Brief: The 24 Hours Of Le Mans Is The Battleground For Cutting-Edge Hybrid Technology. In This Race, Toyota Is Developing Its Unique “Energy Recovery System”, Which Has Also Contributed To The Improvement Of Mass-Production Cars. However, This Technology Was A Term Only For Racing Geeks And Too Complicated To Explain To The General Public.
The Strategy: The Technology Behind The Energy Recovery System Was So Complex That It Was Very Difficult To Explain To The General Public. Even Though The System Of Recovering Energy Under Braking And Reusing That Energy Is Exciting To Some Car Enthusiasts, For The General Public It Was Just Technology Which Was Hard To Understand And Boring. The Idea Of The Campaign Was To Excite Interest Among A Wide Range Of Users By Re-Using The Recovered Energy In A Very Familiar Form And Turning It Into An Entertainment Event.
The Execution: Toyota Organized A Live Event Named “Toyota Barista”. A Racing Car Which Was Brought Into The Venue Ran Through A Virtual Le Mans Circuit And Recovered The Energy, Then The Recovered Energy Was Utilized To Power Cooking Appliances. The Amount Of Recovered Energy Was Demonstrated By Serving Breakfast To 171 People. Footage Of The Event Was Recorded And Made Public And A Website Was Also Set Up Which Explained The System In Such A Way That The General Public Could Understand It. Ordinary Car Fans Who Saw The News Of A Racing Car Powering A Mass Breakfast Gained A Deeper Knowledge Of The Technology While Enjoying Watching The Video Footage And Looking At The Website.
The Result: Over 180 Media Articles In 20 Countries Covered This News. The Movie That Filmed This Event Was Played Over 3 Million Times On Youtube In 212 Countries. Toyota Dealers Also Utilized This Film Globally To Increase Showroom Traffic. Social Concern Toward Hybrid Technology Was Raised Again Through Publicity For This Campaign. And As A Result, The New Model Of The Mass-Production Hybrid Car Prius Received 5 Times More Pre-Orders Than Expected.