"The Most Indestructible Dog Toy" is a never-ending product demo, that uses dogs to prove the toughness of Toyota trucks. Based on research that linked our target group to dog-ownership we landed on a strategy of targeting truck driving dog-owners. Since the American truck audience is very tribal and hard to break through, we decided to connect with this tough crowd through their soft spot: their dogs. Combined with the well-known fact about dogs being tough on their toys, we designed the world's toughest dog toy in the shape of the Toyota Tacoma.

Americans love pickup trucks, everyone knows that. In fact, people here adore their trucks so much, there's about thousand country songs serenading them. A lesser known fact is that truck people in this country don't just pick a brand, they're virtually born into one. Entire families drive the same brand and some have done so for generations. This tribal brand behavior makes them a very tough audience to reach and convince - especially for a foreign brand like Toyota.

Our challenge was to convince an extremely tribal target audience - American pickup truck drivers - of the Toyota Tacoma's outstanding quality and toughness. But we uncovered that even the toughest truck people have a soft spot: their dogs. 55% of our audience are dog owners (vs. 44% of the total pop.) and according to the auto-sales platform AutoTrader, 66% of people think about their beloved pet when purchasing a new vehicle. Combined with the fact that dogs are notoriously tough on their toys that made our solution simple: Let's make the world's toughest dog toy. Our objectives were to get the online crowd talking and collect leads for Toyota. Both things we succeeded in (+200% engagement rate & +660% Lead Generation). And we did it all with a very limited budget and and a limited edition of just 5000 toys.

We created "The World's Most Indestructible Dog Toy". A never-ending product demo that uses dogs to show off the toughness of Toyota trucks.The strategy was based on two research insights: 55% of our audience are dog owners (vs. 44% of the total pop.) and according to the auto-sales platform AutoTrader, 66% of people think about their beloved pet when purchasing a new vehicle. This led to the strategy of targeting dog owning truck-fans through their animals. Combined with the well known fact about dogs being tough on their toys, this strategy influenced the creative execution of "The World's Most Indestructible Dog Toy" in the shape of the Toyota Tacoma.

Our target consists of outdoor enthusiasts who prioritize their leisure time, especially leisure time spent with their family. Family includes their dog: internal research data showed our target over-indexes with dog ownership (55%). Additionally, a study by AutoTrader concluded that 66% of new vehicle buyers consider their dogs when deciding what to get. We wanted to meet them in the places where they co-recreate with their pooches, so we targeted them at outdoor events like Overland Expo and sport fishing tournaments where we knew they were sure to bring Fido. Our approach was to use our target's favorite four-legged family member to showcase how our truck’s category leading durability enables unlimited play for the whole family.

The rollout of the dog toy consisted of two phases, each utilizing earned and owned media.

First, we teased the toy on National Dog (Day, Aug 26, 2023) with Toyota social and influencer posts (e.g. Team Toyota Athletes) and gave it out at popular truck events (e.g. Overland Expo & Auto Shows)

After massive positive feedback and countless questions like "Where can I get this?!?" we gave fans a limited drop. We even created a lead collecting microsite that looked just like a Toyota.com landing page. The page went live on Dec 13, 2023 and the toys sold out in 10 min.

Despite the limited budget and small scale of the project we were able to create something that got fans talking and that they loved. The client and dealers ended up loving the idea so much that they will continue to produce toys for the fans.

Data driven behavior change:

The microsite garnered 14,480 users, 10,598 engaged sessions, and 2,470 handraiser sign ups (+660%)

Social engagement (+200%):

OWNED MEDIA - NATIONAL DOG DAY POST

IG: Engagements: 17,604 / Video View 277,123

META: Engagements 13,258 / Link Clicks 11,081

TIKTOK: Engagements 1,640 / Video View 41,041

OWNED MEDIA - DOG TOY GIVEAWAY ANNOUNCEMENT

IG Engagements: 38,953

Facebook Engagements: 35,099 / Link Clicks. 30,896

IG Story:Link Clicks: 1,720

Brand Perception:

The posts had an average of 85%-89% Positive/Neutral sentiment. More neutral than positive but our average is 6%-10% so higher for these posts.

Business Impact/Brand Value Added:

EARNED MEDIA - DOG TOY GIVEAWAY

Estimated Exposed Audience - 3,016,195.85 (100k+ of target reached)

Considered one of the top 4 initiatives of FY24 Q3 & mentions in AdWeek, Motortrend, Media Post and Auto Blog

With "The Most Indestructible Dog Toy" we created a small scale run of just 5000 units. Additionally, the media roll-out for this idea was small-scale and entirely earned and owned. A microsite was also created for the Limited Edition drop, emulating the style of Toyota.com.