Marketing Plan for Toyota Auris Hybrid Feel - Case Study Example

Social Media Marketing Marketing Plan for Toyota Auris Hybrid Feel Executive summary Toyota has launched an extensive TV campaign in order to promote its newly launched Auris Hybrid model. In order to success with promotion of its brand Toyota is recommended to integrate social media marketing into its overall strategy. Many automobile brands have already switched to social media marketing in order to stay ahead of other companies. Toyota should keep on the trend and utilize major social networking platforms (Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube) in order to promote Auris Hybrid more effectively. While the company has some presence in the above listed channels, it is not sufficient enough to ensure effectiveness of the ad campaign. By adopting a proposed social media marketing plan Toyota will gain an opportunity to integrate social media marketing with traditional advertising, to increase brand awareness and recognition for a new product, and to drive word-of-mouth recommendations. 2. Brief overview The overall market conditions Automotive market is highly competitive industry as there is a great number of international players that launch various car models fitting different consumer’s needs and preferences. In order to stay competitive, leading automotive brands spend large sums for their marketing and promotional campaigns. While some companies continued to increase their investment to advertising and promotion activities, others have cut their expenses since 2010. Table 2 illustrates that Ford Motor Company, Vauxhall Motors Ltd, Renault UK Ltd, and BMW UK are the top leaders in the list. Toyota Ltd (GB) also has increased its overall spend for advertising since 2010 by more than 7% (Mintel.com, 2014). Automotive company/Year 2010 2013 % change £mn £mn 2012-13 Ford Motor Company 35.4 46.6 +45.2 Volkswagen UK Ltd 35.0 34.3 -12.5 Renault UK Ltd 35.3 26.7 +66.9 BMW UK 23.8 26.5 +38.0 Audi UK Ltd 17.7 26.0 -19.8 Toyota (GB) Ltd 21.9 25.1 +7.3 Peugeot Motor Co Plc 27.6 24.5 -8.9 Automotive industry, in contrast to other industries, continues to rely heavily on traditional mass market advertising channels such as television and press. Thus, for example, in 2013, manufacturers spent 40% on TV ads, 27% on Press, 10% on Radio, 9 % on Outdoor, 6% on Internet, 5% on Cinema, and 2% on direct mail (Mintel.com, 2014). Graph 1. Share of manufacturers advertising expenditure, by channel, 2013 (Source: Nielsen Media Research/Mintel, 2014). Graph 1 illustrates that Internet as marketing communication channel has been neglected by most of automobile manufacturers, who preferred to focus on bigger budget media in order to capitalize on launches of their new products in the UK market (Mintel.com, 2014). Social Media Presence Toyota also has shown minimum utilization of the social media as a marketing communication channel for promoting its new Auris Hybrid in 2014. In June 2014, Toyota has posted the TV advert through Facebook on its official page. In order to engage with the public, the company’s marketers initiated the dialogue (below the video) with Facebook readers by asking them about the craziest place they have ever driven in (Facebook.com, 2014). Also, there was provided a hyperlink for the corporate webpage of Toyota Auris Hybrid, where all the technical characteristics, product benefits, and other aspects are presented (Toyota.co.uk, n.d.). Also, Toyota has presence on such social media networks as Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Youtube, Flickr, Toyota Friend (Toyota.co.uk, n.d.). 3. Competitive analysis Toyota Auris Hybrid competes with both traditional car models, as well as hybrid/or ECOnetic models (Honda Insight, CR-Z, Civic Hybrid, Ford Fiesta, Ford Focus, Citroën Revolte, Peugeot, Nissan, etc). Majority of the automotive brands recognize the importance of social networking in brand building. Practically all automotive brands have a strong presence on sites such as Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook (Academic.mintel.com, 2011). Many brands utilize these platforms in order to listen and understand customer’s perspective, to engage customers in communication process of sharing their opinions and experience, and to increase brand awareness. In order to promote its new electric car, the LEAF, Nissan has combined traditional and online media and launched a campaign “Innovation for Endurance”, featuring endurance runner Ryann Hall. Users were supposed to scan Nissan’s colored Microsoft Tag 2 Code (such as QR code) on the print ad and to be linked to the Facebook community showcasing Ryan Hall (Hopikins & Turner, 2012). Also, the brands use social media in order to make special offers to its fans, to keep consumers informed on latest news and developments, and to integrate corporate content in the social media platforms (Mintel.com, 2012). Some brands use social media in order to let consumers design or add features to the brand’s car. Thus, for example, Citroen has initiated a campaign through Facebook where users were invited to offer their configuration of the new C1 Connexion (Hubbard, 2014). Nissan has launched similar campaign “#Jukeride” where social community of motorsport fans were encouraged to contribute to design process for a Nissan Juke race car (Baker, 2013). Volkswagen has become one of the leaders in the automotive industry who have actively and creatively utilized social media. One of the examples is launch of all-new Jetta TSI in Indian market. The company has implemented a campaign on YouTube “Maximum Knowledge, Minimal Effort” which offered its target audience to test-drive the Jetta TSI from their homes (Bosco, 2013). Another example of VW’s social media efforts is development of an AR showroom app for the launch of its new model – Golf Cabriolet. User can download this app for Android, iPad, and iPhone, explore the model and play with the features of this car (Bull, 2013). Many automotive companies also focus on development varios apps for potential and existing customers. Thus, for example, LandRover has utilized AdMob Mobile network owned by Google in order to promote its products. The company has launched a campaign which allowed users to view videos of the vehicles on the road, to select their favourite color and model of the car, to download wallpapers on their phones, and to find the nearest dealer (Hopikins & Turner, 2012). 4. Traditional advert In order to promote its new Auris Hybrid, Toyota has launched extensive TV ad campaign in June 2014. The scene takes place in the middle of one on the craziest traffic jams in Mumbai, India, where hardly any driver (non-Indian) can keep calm. Cars, busses, pedestrians, elephants, are all full-members of the traffic. The driver in the ad is a man, in the middle of his 30th or 40th, sitting in his white Toyota Auris Hybrid. He got stuck in this traffic jam with no rule of the road followed. Instead of being aggressive and pissed off, he is listening to music, and sings the song inside his car. The voice-over says: “Fall in love with driving again. With the new Auris Hybrid. Book your test drive today”. Thus, video suggests if a driver can drive in such tough traffic jam with a smile, then Toyota Auris Hybrid will make him/her fall in love with driving again.   5. Social Media Marketing Plan Toyota has invested heavily into its TV ad marketing campaign for Auris Hybrid in 20014 and has not placed many efforts on integrating this campaign with social media marketing. The aim of this report is to develop a social media marketing plan for promoting Toyota’s Auris Hybrid. 5.1- Goals of the social media marketing campaign There are identified several goals of the social media marketing campaign for Toyota Auris Hybrid. These goals include the following: To integrate social media marketing with traditional advertising (TV ad) To increase brand awareness for a new product As the company launches new product it is important to increase general awareness of as many people as possible. Even after Toyota has launched the new model, it is important to educate its target audience on the benefits and technical characteristics of the car. As this specific model is a hybrid model, which means it is environmentally friendly car, creating of content that explains the importance would be essential (Barker, 2012). To drive word-of-mouth recommendations Decision of selecting what car to buy is quite important and is not based on emotional appeal (usually). Word-of-mouth is quite strong in this sector, as people want to learn from others’ experience and to read reviews. Therefore, encouragement of general public to conversation will help the company to expand loyalty to its brand (Barker, 2012). 5.2. Target audience While in traditional marketing appeal to general public is perceived as a right approach enabling to reach potential customer, in online communications it is more be quite annoying for the users (spam factor) (Barker, 2012). That is why for developing a social marketing campaign it is vital to determine the optimal target audience – personas interested in learning about new product, personas with a need/want to purchase a car, and personas with financial capability to afford it (Barker, 2012). Target audience of Toyota Auris Hybrid includes both males and females of different age, who are environmentally conscious, interested in the latest innovations/technology, and/or those who seek for cost-efficient solutions. 5.3. Strategies and Tactics Strategies Once the social media goals have been set and the target audience identifies, the next step is to determine the strategies and tactics best suited for Toyota’s Case. It is recommended to pursue an aggressive set of strategies of engagement with customers via social media. This strategy implies content creation and engagement into conversations through various social media channels (Barker, 2012). Toyota Auris Hybrid’s comprehensive social media strategies include: Interacting with target audience on social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, as these are two most popular pools of Toyota’s potential consumers. Engaging customers to drive word-of-mouth recommendations by utilizing YouTube brand videos Influencing the target market with YouTube videos that describe benefits and technical characteristics of the Auris Hybrid in interactive manner Connecting with customers by introducing some competitions or campaigns Tactics Social Networking: Facebook & Twitter There is already created an officially branded Toyota UK Facebook page and it is a good start as the company has already almost 200,000 fans (Facebook, 2015). The total number of Facebook users exceeds 750 million, which gives a great opportunity for Toyota to achieve its goals. The company can utilize this resource for greater interaction with both potential and existing customers. Toyota needs to post relevant content on its Hybrid model, and also display the benefits of hybrid vehicle. Content should be posted regularly accompanied with creative/funny ads leading to corporate website. The company has made an attempt to implement this tactics, however, it was quite poor and not interesting. Also, there might be developed creative games, or competitions among followers. Toyota has to use Twitter more actively as well. The company needs to ensure constant discussion and participation in conversations. Toyota can launch a competition on this social networking platform in order to attract and engage with its target audience (Barker, 2012). People can compete on posting photos with Auris Hybrid, or some other image sharing. Sharing Videos: YouTube Youtube is another one extremely popular social media platform as more and more people are used to gain information visually (Barker, 2012). Toyota is already present on Youtube, where it has its own channel with car reviews. The company should actively promote its advert on YouTube channel in order to increase awareness of a new product launch. Mobile Apps Many automobile brand have already focused their investment to mobile apps development. Toyota should also utilize this resource and to develop a mobile apps for iPhone and Android and enable thus its potential customers to learn more about the product and to generate purchase intent. Also, there can be developed some joint campaigns with other brands (music providers, sporting events, food retailers, etc.). 5.4. Content Development Each of the above mentioned social media platforms will have specific types of content. However, it will be necessary to leverage existing content at each platform by cross-utilizing it. Content should include informative materials such as video reviews, and e-brochures (on the website and YouTube). For Facebook and Twitter the company will launch its main advert and in parallel will raise public engagement by offering to participate in some competition (to be developed) and contest. Also, the company can launch some specific game where Toyota Auris Hybrid is a model which fights for negative environmental impact. The major theme of content should be focused around the car and its benefits. 5.5. Monitoring and measuring: In order to monitor and measure the campaign there should be used several quantitative key performance indicators (KPIs) for each type of social media platform. Below are summarized KPIs under each category. Social Media Platform Quantitative KPIs for Toyota Auris Hybrid Ad Campaign Facebook % growth in the number of likes; % increase in visits to Toyota website from Facebook page; % increase in the number of likes and comments on message board Twitter % growth in the number of followers; % growth in the number of retweets; % increase in visits to website from tweet links; YouTube % in the number of videos reviewed; % increase in the number of subscribers to Toyota’s channel % increase in visits to Toyota website from YouTube Mob apps Number of apps downloads % of apps renewal vs. the number of downloads Number of test-drives signed up via mob apps References: Academic.mintel.com, (2011). Alternative Fuel Vehicles - UK - January 2011. Mintel Group Ltd.. [online] Available at: http://academic.mintel.com/display/561671/ Baker, R. (2013), ‘Nissan: Car brands trail other sections in digital marketing’, Marketing Week (Online Edition), p. 11. Barker M. (2012). Social media marketing. Cangage Learning. Bosco, D. (2013). Marketing Cars: Driving digital. Grey Digital India. Feb. 2013. Bull, N. (2013). Marketing cars: Change media gear. Warc.com Facebook.com, (2014). Toyota UK | Facebook. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152161376712633&theater Facebook.com (2015). Toyota UK. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/toyotauk Hopikins, J. & Turner, J. (2012). Go Mobile. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Hubbard, D. (2014). The best social media campaigns from auto brands. iMediaConnection.com. Available at: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/36410.asp#multiview Mintel.com (2014). Car Purchasing Process - UK - April 2014 - Brand Communication and Promotion Mintel.com (2012). Social Media: Automotive - UK - June 2012. Mintel Group Ltd.. [online] Available at: http://academic.mintel.com/display/626055/?highlight#hit1 Toyota.co.uk, (n.d.). Reasons to Love Hybrids | Hybrid Technology | Toyota UK. [online] Available at: http://www.toyota.co.uk/hybrid Read More