Toyota Motor Sales USA and advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi LA have begun the marketing campaign for the new Prius family of vehicles with a campaign called Prius Goes Plural whcih challenges the public to help decide what you call more than one Prius?
Adding to the current third-generation Toyota Prius and plug-in, the Prius v midsize hybrid-electric vehicle and c Concept vehicle were launched in Detroit earlier this week.
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“The plural of Prius has sparked debates since the launch of the first-generation vehicle ten years ago. Now that the Prius family has grown, Toyota would like its customers and fans to help decide on a term to describe the plural of Prius vehicles,” the automaker said.
An online voting module enables the public to vote for their preferred plural of Prius – five options in all, including Prius, Priuses, Prii, Prien and Prium – as well as view real-time polling data. Once they’ve voted, consumers can share their preferred plural via Facebook. A voting widget on Facebook will also be available to embed in blogs.
During the Detroit show public days from Saturday (15 January) Toyota representatives will hand out T-shirts featuring the five Prius plural options to the first 275 guests that visit the Prius family display each day. A hangtag attached to each T-shirt informs the recipient that he or she is eligible for a US$20 Amazon MP3 credit. To redeem the credit, recipients must post a picture of themselves wearing the T-shirt to Facebook and tag both themselves and Toyota Prius in the photo. Prius buttons will also be given to guests who cast their vote onsite.
Other aspects include ‘Prius Expecting’ print ads in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post which use sonogram imagery to announce the new family of vehicles.
As a dynamic element of the marketing campaign, an integrated program with Cie Games’ online “CarTown” game provides the first-ever live, in-game experience which mirrors the Prius activities taking place at the Detroit Auto Show. The initiative brings the real-world Prius Family launch into a virtual domain with a completely interactive, Toyota Prius-branded experience within CarTown. It is designed to introduce the new Prius family of vehicles to a highly engaged group of gamers through a virtual showroom, branded virtual items and game play elements created expressly for players who purchase digital Prius vehicles within the game.
Also, a series of Web videos featuring a notable expert exploring the etymology of words and discussing the plural of Prius in a fresh, unexpected way will launch mid-January, on YouTube, Facebook, the Toyota Prius Projects site and Toyota.com.
The Prius Goes Plural campaign will wrap up in late February with an official announcement of the Prius plural on the last day of the Chicago Auto Show. The plural nomenclature, as determined by popular vote, will be used in Toyota marketing initiatives going forward.
