Economy
- From the perceptual map explain why Yaris wants to be an exciting economy car. According to your results from Question 1, has Yaris achieved its objective of achieving that position? Does it depend on the age group?
It is smart for Yaris to go after quadrant I in the perceptual map dealing with luxury verse economy and dull verse exciting because it has very few competitors relative to the size of the market segment. Though it is not the largest segment (dull and economy) it does not have near the amount of competitors’ position in that quadrant and has the second largest segment with only two other cars in it. Thus, the Yaris only has to compete with the Ford Fusion and the Chevy Aveos sedan and only the Ford Fusion has successfully achieved a position within the circle on the perceptual map. According to our survey results, the Yaris was successful in presenting itself as an exciting economy car to the younger age group but was only successful at portraying itself as an economy car and not as an exciting one. The Yaris fell into quadrant II as a dull economy car positioned as mix between the Honda Accord and the Kia Forte. Thus, Yaris’ position on the perceptual map does depend on the age group.
- If your answer to question 2 in no for the younger generation, develop a marketing strategy that would reposition the Yaris effectively. Detail all the elements of learning, attitude change, and so forth that you would use.
The results from our small survey revealed to us that the younger age group viewed to Toyota Yaris as a dull economy car and not an exciting economy car, we felt that Toyota should change their marketing strategy and tailor it more to the youth. One idea we had to make to Yaris seem more exciting to the 18 to 34 age group was to change the name from Yaris to something that conveys something more exciting. Toyota’s idea to give the car a “cheeky, irreverent, mischievous” personality does somewhat convey a feeling of excitement but the name Yaris doesn’t seem to convey this personality to a level that actually excites the younger age group. After talking to some of the people we surveyed, we came to the conclusion they needed to make the name seem like something you could zip around in or take on an adventure.
The name Yaris sounds drawn out and sounds like someone yawning when they you say it, so we felt that a name that would better suit the car would be something short that relates to something quick like the Toyota “Zip” or “Flip.”
- Examine all the web activities that Yaris is engaged in. Do you think that Yaris is doing a good job of leveraging these tools toward the company’s younger audience and toward its desired position? Explain.
After visiting the Yaris’ page on Toyota’s website and viewing some of Yaris’ commercials we felt that they put more emphasis on portraying it as an economy car with great fuel mileage and only had a few ads showing it as an exciting car. The commercials seemed a lot like an Apple commercial for a car with all white backgrounds and bright, colorful products bouncing around and were exciting but didn’t really make the car seem like something that would be exciting to drive. For example, there was one commercial that showed two animated Yaris’ with huge speakers having what seemed like a completion to see who was loudest, this made the Yaris seem like a car that had a great audio system but not a car that you would perceive as something exciting to actually drive. We thought commercials and advertisements showing actual people driving the car in real world settings would be better to help the younger audience relate to the car than the animated approach they have taken. To do this, Yaris could try and place the car in movies and TV shows with the actors using the Yaris as a getaway car or embarking on some kind of adventure through the outdoors. Toyota could also run commercials during the program with some of these actors to help the consumer better relate the car with the persona of the character of the actor in the show.
Toyota is using the hit TV show “Prison Break” to help advertise on mobile phones but instead of only showing a short Yaris ad before the short “mobisode” on people’s phones, they need to also advertise during the actual show and try and have Yaris actually in some of the scenes of the show. We liked the idea of Toyota promoting at events that appeal to the younger generation as they did by going to the South by Southwest music festival in Austin but felt that they did not establish the right integration between the event and the advertising. We felt that the free cd giveaway to access festival music on a Yaris website created too much distance between the ad and consumer and felt that it would’ve been better to do a promotion that took place entirely on site. There is too much time from when the potential consumer gets the cd to when he or she will actually go home and put it in, plus the chance of losing or forgetting about the cd altogether is especially high after a long day at a music festival.
For example, Yaris could do a car giveaway to a fan through a raffle with the car at the entrance where you could drop your raffle ticket through a slightly rolled down window and announcing the winner on stage before the headlining act of the day. You could also do a raffle of this sort at college campuses around or perhaps have some sort of competition or scavenger hunt for students to participate in to win a Yaris. We believe that these changes could all work together and help change the younger age group’s perception of the Yaris from a dull car to an exciting economy car.
- What does the perceptual map say about the Chevy Aveos sedan? What should the company do and what marketing strategies should it use to achieve its objective?
The perceptual map says that the Chevy Aveos is the highest in economy rating and slightly about neutral towards exciting. The company should increase its luxury perception to make more exciting as well. This would shift the market segment up and to the right closer to the bigger market segment in quadrant 3 where the I1 circle is. A marketing strategy that Toyota could use is to have a specific Yaris promotion on Twitter. Twitter promotions are advertisements by companies that are put on people’s timelines who share the same interest the company represents. A twitter promotion of the Yaris would go to people’s timelines that have interest in cars. Young users of twitter in the 18-34 age range who follow twitter accounts about cars would see this promotion automatically on their timeline. This could be extremely useful to promote the Yaris to people who could appreciate its features and designs more than the average consumer.
One strategy Chevy could try to help portray itself slightly more as a luxurious economy car that is a little more exciting is to develop an advertising campaign showing the car in various exotic locations. For example, you could have some professional snowboarders driving the Aveos through nice ski villages on the way to the top of a mountain then getting out and snowboarding down the mountain. Another possibility would be to have some surfers speeding down a mountain in Hawaii then getting out and surfing some massive waves. In addition to this Chevy could try to develop a co-branding strategy with a company that nice exciting products that aren’t thought of as elitist, like Quicksilver or Oakley
