Toyota has launched a podcast campaign to promote its Lexus IS, in partnership with Vibe Magazine and independent hiphop/jazz fusion recerd label Hidden Beach Recordings. The campaign is supported by blog advertising. The site features downloadable MP3s, and the ability to subscribe to them, of half-hour samples of Unwrapped CD series.
According to a ClickZ article, the campaign is targeted at an African-American audience, and blogs play a “pretty heavy part” of the campaign, according to a Toyota spokesperson quoted in the article. I have to say, that seems a bit curious to me. I wonder if they did much demographic research about podcast users and blog readers to determine whether it was a good fit with an African-American target audience. The few black bloggers I know all seem to take perverse pleasure in their being among the few black bloggers out there. I suppose like anything that is changing and blogs will continue to gain traction across all demographic segments, but it strikes me as a pretty rarified audience segment they’re targeting.
Anyway, I do think that the idea of using custom podcast content is a good strategy for making use of podvertising. And the grooves are definitely funky. Good exposure, in any event, for Hidden Beach, which I’m adding to my music watch-list. (Ironically, I don’t see that HiddenBeach.com links to the co-branded podcast site. Details, details…)
[…] Business Blog Consulting » Lexus Uses Blog Ads to Promote Podcast Campaign Toyota has launched a podcast campaign to promote its Lexus IS, in partnership with Vibe Magazine and independent hiphop/jazz fusion recerd label Hidden Beach Recordings. The campaign is supported by blog advertising. The site features downloadable MP3s, and the ability to subscribe to them, of half-hour samples of Unwrapped CD series. […]
Pingback by Podcast Free America » Lexus gets into podcast marketing — January 7, 2006 @ 1:56 pm
Rick,
Always impressed by your ideas. I wonder if you have any advice for me. I think I have a real story to tell, but I’m not sure about how to get it out there.
In a nutshell, in In recent months we created a new venture to use the new medium of podcasting for language training. In September we launched http://www.chinesepod.com to teach Mandarin and it exploded – it is now in the top 3 on the Yahoo directory of most popular podcasts – http://www.podcasts.yahoo.com Since then we’ve made a major commitment to developing the new medium.
I think there are dozens of interesting angles on this development.
1. Lots of firsts:
The first (kind of) paid subscription model for podcasting
The first ‘post-network’ or ‘web 2.0’ training program. I think this might qualify as a ‘training 2.0’ program.
The first user-generated language program – we develop the content according to what users request
It’s a Shanghai-based internet start up with Irish, Brits, Candaians, and Chinese on the team.
2. It looks like disruptive technology:
It collapses the economics of training delivery: one litle studio with the one teacher can potentially reach thousands of learners, so there;’s no need for building schools, hiring dozens of teachers, etc. This could devastate the traditional language schools if they fail to adopt the new technology.
It delivers more interaction, it’s faster, it’s cheaper, and it’s more personal than anything the audio-book industry can produce.
3. It’s riding a wave:
There’s been an explosion of web 2.0 tools – podcasting, blogging, instant messaging, wiki, etc, and we’ve found ways to incorporate them into the new service.
In recent years the focus of tech in language education has been on using software to eliminate teachers as much as possible – teachers are in short supply. Our approach takes the opposite approach by selecting a small group of only the very best teachers and delivering their lessons via podcasting to an unlimited number of learners. This stuff might sound heady, but, just as the media, the music industry, and other industries are in decline, so too will the language training industry – a big story anywhere but especially in China. I wroite in more details about how this could pan out on our coporate blog http://www.suixuan.com/blog
Is it a good story? Any ideas on how to go about promoting it – I have no PR experience.
Comment by Ken Carroll — January 9, 2006 @ 12:23 am
The potential of posd cast seems almost unlimited, but it does have its down falls. Most infrastructures in the US can’t support it adiquately let alone the rest of the world. Most are very slow and cumbersome to load. the above site in the previous comment is a good example not to mention that podcasting isn’t user friendly yet. I have heard a great deal of backlash from those who have tried it.
IT is something I feel that as the support technology improves it will really take off. For right now I’m holding my breath, I hope I don’t turn blue.
As for Toyota I think they got ate up by a slick selling marketing firm that may have jumped the gun a little. It just goes to show that the bigger they are they still get suckered.
http://cdccustomerservice.blogspot.com
Comment by Tim — January 9, 2006 @ 3:41 am
Ken, I think it is a great story. I’d encourage you to simply send an email along the lines of this comment to some journalists whose work you admire. The China angle is great, too, as everyone is writing about business in China these days here. Sounds like a good story to pitch to Wired, Business 2.0 or Fast Company, or even a more mainstream pub like Business Week, NYT or WSJ. Lots of journalists blog these days, which is one way to figure out their email addresses. Chris Anderson, the editor-in-chief of Wired, for example, has a great blog.
Comment by Rick E. Bruner — January 9, 2006 @ 7:20 am
Rick,
Terrific.I really appreciate the suggestions and supportive words. I’ll keep you informed of our progress.
Any plans to vosit China? It’s a happening place. We’ve got some pretty good contacts in the local tech/entrepreneural world.
The new look is great.
Comment by Ken Carroll — January 9, 2006 @ 8:45 am
“I wonder if they did much demographic research about podcast users and blog readers to determine whether it was a good fit with an African-American target audience.”
I’m actually knee deep right now in research of using blogs to market to African Americans, and it’s a better match than you think.
You may be talking to the wrong type of black bloggers. Think more LiveJournal than Typepad and it makes more sense.
Comment by Hashim — February 2, 2006 @ 3:48 pm
[…] Interesting development courtesy of Business Blog Consulting blog: Toyota has launched a podcast campaign to promote its Lexus IS, in partnership with Vibe Magazine and independent hiphop/jazz fusion recerd label Hidden Beach Recordings. The campaign is supported by blog advertising. The site features downloadable MP3s, and the ability to subscribe to them, of half-hour samples of Unwrapped CD series. […]
Pingback by Great Leaps Forward » Lexuscasting kicked off by Toyota — July 3, 2006 @ 9:25 am
[…] Then there’s this movement: […]
Pingback by What Will You See Next? » Blog Archive » IF… You Had A Place In the Long Tail — December 7, 2006 @ 5:06 pm
Anyone know the Lexus marketing manager that is pushing these campaigns?
I ask because I and a friend are launching an int’l podcasting platform and are looking for int’l sponsors.
Comment by Todd — April 23, 2007 @ 1:03 pm