Toyota Shares in Family Tales
Cars fill a strange place in our lives. They’re a tool that gets us from A to B, but sometimes we develop close emotional bonds to them. We name them, tell tales about their exploits, and often have a hard time letting go when it’s time to move on.
Toyota is celebrating that connection with it’s Auto-Biography campaign. If every car has a story, Toyota wants to hear the tale of each of the cars that’s left its dealerships. It’s asking Toyota owners to visit its Facebook page and write down their car stories, which are often stories of family: milestones, births, birthdays and more.
Toyota plans to take one of the stories each month and animate it, likely for use in a larger, multi-platform campaign. It’s a gentle reminder to customers that Toyota has been an important part of their lives, and a great welcome for those considering the brand.
Unfortunately, it’s also currently a platform for disgruntled customers. A lot of companies struggle with social media campaigns, running into difficulty when real customers say things that aren’t quite on message. Hopefully Toyota has a plan to deal with the complaints without leaving their unhappy customers feeling censored, or this campaign might just do them less good than they hope.
