Categories
content strategy

Toyota’s Scion brand: a media company, too?


Brandweek reports that automaker Toyota’s youth-oriented brand, Scion, has launched their own branded radio player on their website.

The term radio should be interpreted loosely here, as there is far more than just audio here. Videos of Scion owners’ gatherings, races, short independent films, live music performances, and more traditional “radio stations.”

These stations are of interest as they were created with some real underground partners. For example, they partnered with Wax Poetics, the UK magazine devoted to soul, reggae, jazz, and hiphop. That is going to have a certain amount of cred with a portion of their target audience. Wax Poetics is not one of those glossy, advert filled mags that cater to the chart-topping performers. It is more of a journal. The fact that Scion sought them out shows how in tune they really are. [No pun intended.]

Scion impressed me from the start with their marketing savvy that reached beyond glossy flyers. At the annual auto show here in town three years ago, they handed out CD samplers featuring two quite underground record labels as the source for the songs.

When it comes to hitting that age group that everyone is aiming at, Scion does a good job. Does it sell cars? At least a few…