This weekend Toyota came under fire for using LocalResponse to send automated tweets responding to hashtags, in a way that was perceived as spam. Now Walgreens is planning on using the same technology that Toyota used in its campaign to send messages to customers using mobile apps to check in at its stores. Will the Walgreens campaign be more successful? Read →
Like other advertisers, Toyota spent millions on its Superbowl commercial this weekend. But instead of enjoying positive word of mouth about the new Camry, the brand is dealing with backlash against a Twitter campaign that sent unsolicited @ reply messages to users who were tweeting with Superbowl-related hashtags, inviting them to enter a contest to win a 2012 Camry. What’s worse, the tweets were sent from a series of accounts that had been verified by Twitter, provoking additional backlash against Twitter for appearing to endorse the spam campaign. Read →
Aiming to “connect the real, traditional world with Toyota’s digital world,” Toyota launched a campaign for the 2012 Corolla back in May 2011, targeting an Asian-American audience. The campaign was based on the US introduction of “computer-generated pop star” Hatsune Miku, but also had a strong focus on mobile content with QR codes and augmented reality to drive traffic to Toyota’s website. Read →
This summer Toyota is running a Facebook marketing campaign – “100 Cars For Good” – and giving fans the chance to vote on which charities receive a new car. Designed to get consumers to engage with Toyota through social media, the initiative runs for 100 consecutive days, ending August 16th. Read →
Toyota USA President Jim Lentz took an hour out from his busy schedule at the Detroit Auto Show this week to conduct a live Twitter Chat about the company’s introduction of an extended line of new Prius models. You can see the results online. As with most Twitter Chats, participants need to be able to [...] Read →
Turning to social media to combat recent negative publicity, Toyota is encouraging owners of its cars to share personal stories about their vehicles on Facebook in what it has dubbed each person’s “Auto-Biography.” Launched July 2, the promotion has attracted more than 5400 posts to Toyota’s Facebook fan page. Toyota owners enter information about the [...] Read →
Looking for a good way to handle crisis communications in light of the negative stories about its recalls in January, Toyota looked to the website Digg for a way to calm consumer sentiment. Toyota already was an advertiser on the user-voted news aggregator, but the auto company’s executives felt that ads weren’t going to be [...] Read →