Toyota rides hot streak with new '22 GR86 sports coupe 'FasterClass' campaign
Looking to keep its historic sales record going, Toyota is launching a three-pronged global ad attack for its new sports coupe. Three agencies united to dial up the fact that the 2022 GR86 sports coupe was ‘designed by enthusiasts for enthusiasts.’
Saatchi & Saatchi produced a series of spots for the new Toyota ad campaign.
After becoming the first automaker in almost a century to outsell General Motors, Toyota is keeping the pedal down with a new global campaign touting its 2022 GR86 sports car.
The new ad campaign — titled “FasterClass” — is launching today, and aims to portray the GR86 as both cutting-edge and cross-culturally relevant. The controlling idea is that the new vehicle was “designed by enthusiasts for enthusiasts.”
“FasterClass” was produced by Toyota’s three agency partners: Saatchi & Saatchi, Conill Advertising and Intertrend.
Saatchi & Saatchi created a series of spots (such as this one) featuring world-class auto racers: Stephan Papadakis, Fredric Aasbø, Ryan Tuerck, Ken Gushi and Hunter Taylor. “We knew our enthusiast drivers were always searching for ways to improve their driving skills and wanted a car that would bring out the best in them, like the track-ready, all-new GR86," says Saatchi & Saatchi Creative Director Matt Davis. "We assembled the masters of the drift world...[and we] said, how would this group approach everyday driving in the all-new GR86? How would Fredric Aasbø pick up fast food? How would Ken Gushi leave work for the day? And what lessons could these masters give to the world on how it’s done? For Toyota, once we brought the idea of FasterClass to the table, they were continually pushing us to amp up the fun and excitement as much as we could.”
Conill Advertising, meanwhile, highlighted the GR86’s ability to operate smoothly on crowded city streets, and featured what it calls “urban professors”: delivery drivers, taxi drivers and paramedics — professions that often require quick reflexes behind the wheel and reliable machinery under the hood. And Intertrend leaned into its client's Japanese heritage by incorporating a variety of Anime and manga themes.
The new ad campaign will run across many top platforms — Amazon, Bleacher Report, Hearst, NBC, Hulu, Reddit, YouTube, Motor Trend, Popular Mechanics, Twitch and TikTok, to name a few.
“In this increasingly autonomous world, it’s more important than ever for us to embrace our fun-to-drive heritage with an affordable sports coupe. We feel the time is right to launch the campaign for the all-new 2022 Toyota GR86 that excites our enthusiast audience,” said Lisa Materazzo, group vice president of Toyota Marketing, Toyota Motor North America. “With our audience skewing male, ages 18 – 64, we know they are passionate about performance and drawn to the modern yet classic, eye-catching style of the all-new GR86.”
Toyota has had a very strong start to 2022. Last year, it became the first automaker in almost 100 years to outsell General Motors in the United States. Toyota North America recently announced that its 2021 sales went up 10% in 2021. And today, its stock hit a 52-week high after the company announced plans for its new autonomous driving software. Nicknamed “Arene,” the technology is scheduled to launch by 2025.