SMS Makes Scion’s Spring Break a Success
Toyota Motor Sales USA’s Scion division used a viral campaign last month at Spring Break locations to show off its automobiles in a non-intrusive party atmosphere.
Scion sponsored two to three Spring Break after-hours parties in Miami, South Padre Island, and Panama City Beach between March 6 to 25, and the only way party-goers could attend was by receiving an invitation via SMS.
Posters in hotels and on the street and painted vans prompted consumers to text message to find out where the parties were and get the invites on their cell phones, which they had to show at the door to get in.
Information about Scion was not distributed, but the brand had several cars parked at each party. Scion said it wanted to create awareness about its automobiles to young, urban trendsetters without getting into their faces.
Darren Shuster, a spokesman for Los Angeles-based mobile content marketer Mobilicious, said Scion chose the text messaging approach because Spring Breakers do not have access to computers, tend to lose fliers, and added that text messaging is convenient, viral and self-promoting. Mobilicious handled the campaign for Scion.
“The campaign falls in line with the viral marketing strategy that we have,” said Scion spokesperson Ming-Jou Chen. “We like to run promotions that are driven by word of mouth and create a buzz.”
Shuster said results were not being released, but said all the parties had crowds past the maximum capacity of the venues.
