Background

Toyota is one of the world’s strongest brands. Yet, in a time of considerable change and competition, brave thinking is required to maintain one’s leadership position, and connect with new generations of customers. Add in a global pandemic driving fluctuating automotive sales – the threats to this century-old business are myriad. But where there are threats, there are opportunities. For the first time in the organisation’s history, Toyota’s Japanese headquarters set a new global vision, transforming from a car company to a mobility company; working to achieve ‘Mobility for All’, to better connect with tomorrow’s drivers. How each global region responded to the challenge was their own decision to make. Our objective was to interpret ‘Mobility for All’ to create a regional brand solution to unite all 17 Toyota APAC markets, and create a stronger, more relevant, and more resilient regional brand–to tell Toyota’s story with character, emotion, and style.

Describe the creative idea (40% of vote)

Toyota’s target audience is not defined by age or demographics, but by their mindset: united by the desire to keep moving forward, both individually and collectively. To engage this customer we built a brand concept around the positioning statement ‘The thrill and joy of moving together’, a creative platform engineered to embed the missing attributes of excitement and emotion across the entire brand. This led to a powerful reframing of ‘brand’ as more than a function of marketing to a driver for the entire business, providing a compelling creative thread to shape everything we do, and say, to create experiences that elicit emotion; products that unite heart and mind; and moments that become memories. This idea translated to a very fluid, free-flowing, dynamic visual brand expression; a creative thread to draw the audiences through all Toyota touchpoints and moments with a sense of joy, excitement and positive energy.

Describe the execution (40% of vote)

Central to the new system was an expressive, custom script typeface, bringing the strategy to life with a sense of joyful, free-flowing movement. Handcrafted to feel human and energetic, Toyota stands proudly from its competitors. The new brand toolkit introduced the ‘arrow device’, a symbol of moving forward and upward. Modern, progressive and simple to apply across a variety of formats, the device enables flexibility and consistency in application. A toolkit of logo variations, typefaces, graphic devices, primary and secondary colour palettes, photography, iconography and illustration further celebrate mobility and inspire creativity. We launched the transformation to all team members and agencies across 17 markets, guiding the development of every class of communication. From brand, product and retail advertising, physical interactions in dealerships or call centres, press releases or CSR initiatives, through to recruitment, every single touchpoint was considered an opportunity to reinforce who Toyota is, and what they believe.

List the results (20% of vote)

Through deep engagement and creative execution, we successfully reframed the Toyota brand from being a marketing-only tool, to an all-of-business responsibility. Our flexible, intuitive design system delivered as comprehensive guidelines enabled markets to execute the brand vision ‘Mobility for All’ beyond traditional communications and customer touchpoints: to all classes of products, channels and services. From print to digital formats, our suite of design elements successfully delivered a consistent regional strategy, whilst allowing the flexibility to allow for, and celebrate, local market nuance. The business impact is significant. In the words of our client, “we hoped some markets would align, and could see the benefit in uniting as a strong global and regional brand. Getting 80% of the markets would have been an amazing result. Having all 17 markets is a huge achievement and a testament to the project.”