We reminded Country Australians that Toyotas are the only 4WDs as tough as they are. We based our promotional idea on a rivalry that exists in local Australian culture. Tough Country Australians think city people are ‘soft’. So we created a tough new partner: ‘Country Australia Border Security”, a task force of country blokes to defend their borders from ‘soft’ city stuff. Then we sponsored them with Toyota 4WDs, the only vehicles tough enough to get the job done. We built a border post and rolled out an promotional propaganda campaign using a number of existing and unique localised channels.

The ‘Country Australia Border Security’ promotional idea was so well received by local country consumers that it resulted in an overwhelming response, with sales of new Toyota 4WDs surpassing all targets for the promotional period.

Best 4WD sales month in Toyota Australia’s history.

Toyota Prado sold out, with 2 month waiting list.

Best sales month for Toyota HiLux in years.

Successfully defended Toyota’s number 1 status in Country Australia.

And all this after years of drought and during tough economic times.