Toyota Spots Seek to Fuel Indy Car Racing

Advertiser: Toyota Motor Sales

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, Los Angeles

Challenge: Build Toyota’s reputation for performance while raising the profile of Indy car racing, which it sponsors.

The Ads: Using footage shot during actual races, three TV commercials turn monotonous motion into poetry. In one spot, driver Max Papis is shown in his pit, preparing to race as an announcer whispers: “Reach within. Shun the chaos that surrounds you. . . . Ignore the speculation and the rhetoric. . . . Roll the pedals, stab the gears, win the glory.” In another ad, drivers Alex Barron and P.J. Jones make pit stops to refuel as a narrator says, “Locked between the methanol haze and the stench of smoldering rubber, the war rages on.”

Comment: Toyota is using these spots, which air during sports programming, to broaden the appeal of Indy car racing, currently second fiddle to NASCAR’s popular stock car races. The ads attempt to bring drama to a sport in which drivers monotonously circle on asphalt tracks for long stretches of time. Should Toyota succeed in raising the profile of Indy car racing, it would also boost the value of its own association with the sport. $$+

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Ads are rated from $ to $$$$, based on tastefulness and probable effectiveness, with $$$$ being highest.