In recent years, young people in Japan are separating themselves more and more from cars, which is furthermore driven by the fact of increasing herbivore men. Especially in these difficult circumstances, Toyota decided to release a real man’s SUV named “FJ Cruiser”. The task was to capture the heart of young herbivore men. To accomplish that mission, we totally stopped referring the product as a car. Because of its adorable front grid, poppy colour and unique style, we structured the campaign as “FJ Cruiser=A small animal (like a pet)”, to make it feel more accessible to our main target. Something very unusual for a car manufacturer.

We made an original movie called “Biology of FJ”, which simulated the FJ Cruiser as an animal.Performance and function were explained in a biological way.And, derivations of the FJ Cruiser were presented as different breeds.We handed out press-kits as part of a PR campaign, including a teaser DVD of the movie at the new-car-release exhibition.We added AR marks onto print advertisements that redirected people to smart phone applications, with the function of streaming the movie.We followed it up and produced visual dictionaries and actually sold them in bookstores with additional in store promotions.We also changed a famous café in the middle of the fashion district into “FJ café”, with visual promotions, goods and even an original FJ menu.We also gave out a limited number of FJ Cruisers made out of bricks that were later sold at premium on auction sites.

As a result, the FJ Cruiser has acquired a “Unique” and “Fashionable” image because of the campaign. We succeeded in appealing to young people in their 20 - 30s, who hadn’t really thought about Toyota before. Moreover, we were able to net free publicity worth more than 100 million yen (= 1 mil. USD). Ultimately, the sales were 5 times higher than our expected figure.