Toyota Motor Corporation has taken the cult to a new level.
Toyota, arguably the most recognizable car brand in the world (in fact, the one and only auto maker to score in the top 10 of BrandZ’s 100 most powerful brands of 2007), has instituted a new marketing system that promises to make the experience of owning a Toyota like joining an exclusive club.
The company currently rules the hybrid car market in the United States, and watches over the cult of the Toyota Prius, the best-selling hybrid partly responsible for driving the trend and swiftly becoming an ecological status symbol. Using a new technology developed by the Australia-based mobile marketing services company Broadcaster Media, Toyota now offers clients the chance to download information on the entire Toyota fleet to mobile phones. The information arrives after customers send an SMS message “Toyota” to a given number.
The new cell-phone system fits right in with Toyota’s tech-savvy edge, and Broadcaster Media head Tammy Halter has told the press it has room to grow well beyond car shows and sedan specs.
“"It delivers an interactive marketing experience that you can view online or save to your cell phone without additional software and take it with you, which is a very big point,” Halter said in a company press release. “It's an extremely flexible piece of software.
"Marketing information, news, events, catalogues, ringtones and other cool items can be delivered to a mobile phone or a mobile device such as a PDA or Blackberry," she said.
BroadcasterMedia is now working with many large companies in Australia via their advertising agency, to provide mobile-based marketing solutions. Other projects include a text-to-donate system for Wildlife Warriors Worldwide, the environmental foundation founded by the late Steve Irwin; allowing teens in Ohio to download wait times for popular rides at a popular theme park, and a project with Detroit Ignition that had soccer fans participating in an interactive mobile marketing campaign at half-time break .
Most notably for Toyota, the system raises the brand to subculture status, while monitoring how customers use the information—downloading, updating, forwarding to friends as part of viral marketing.
“Consumers like to feel they are part of an exclusive club and that feeling results in brand loyalty,” Halter said. “Whether they are waiting for a bus, are on a train or at the beach, consumers want to be able to instantly check what's new from your company.”
The system, which operates without the assistance of any network provider and is compatible with most wireless handsets, made its first appearance at the Sydney Motor Show in Australia last fall. (The same Broadcaster Media technology continued to impress audiences at an Entrepreneurs’ Organization conference in Las Vegas. The system was able to offer the complete speakers program, biographies, and room and off-site location details of each of the conference events).