Advertising and Consumer Perceptions in the Truck Segment - Toyota vs. Domestics

Jan. 1, 2020

MARKETING
Advertising and Consumer Perceptions in the Truck Segment - Toyota vs. Domestics

IRVINE, CA (July 26, 2007) - In the past few months, according to Rick Wainschel, Kelley Blue Book vice president of Marketing Research and Brand Communications, Toyota has been heavily supporting its redesigned Tundra with a distinctly domestic-like message: demonstrating its power, towing and hauling capabilities, and tough and rugged qualities.

Entering the crowded field of "Built Ford Tough" F-150s, rock-em-sock-em robot-fighting Dodge Rams, "Professional Grade" GMCs and "Like a Rock" Chevrolet Silverados is somewhat of a gamble for Toyota, but one with a huge payoff if they succeed in knocking the domestics off their final pedestal. So how is it going so far? Is this message resonating with truck shoppers? Or are the domestics maintaining their chokehold in their one remaining segment of strength?

Brand Watch - a new quarterly tracking study from Kelley Blue Book Marketing Research - provides a near real-time view into the perceptions of new-vehicle shoppers as they are fully engaged in the shopping process. Consumers are asked to identify key factors important in choosing a vehicle within a particular segment, and then asked to rate each make on those factors. The study found that:

* In the truck segment, 42 percent of shoppers indicated that ruggedness/toughness was an important factor in deciding what truck to purchase. Those indicating towing/hauling/capacity and driving performance as important factors were 49 percent and 47 percent, respectively.

* In Q2 vs. Q1, after its well-financed campaign hit magazines, televisions and Web pages across the Net - demonstrating the Tundra's ability to haul manure, brake at the drop of a cliff, accelerate through closing doors, and rescue heavy objects from tumbling over jagged cliffs - Toyota began making inroads in the ruggedness/toughness and driving performance areas, but still trailed by a considerable margin for towing/hauling.

* The results to the questions posed above are mixed. Consumers, while beginning to ascribe more positive feelings toward these attributes of Toyota trucks, have not fully embraced the message that - to date - has been solely connected to domestic manufacturers.

"In the age of the Internet, consumer perceptions to questions such as these can be captured almost immediately by collecting the opinions of large numbers of consumers paying the most attention to manufacturer messages: in-market shoppers," said Wainschel. In the past, finding such new-vehicle shoppers in the small window of time just before purchasing a new vehicle was an inefficient, slow and costly endeavor. "But with Web sites such as kbb.com, which sees more than 12 million unique shoppers each month, the ability to track comprehensive perceptions among shoppers for all makes in all segments is possible, even - dare I say - easy," added Wainschel.

CONSUMER PERCEPTIONS FOR FIRST TWO QUARTERS OF 2007 (BASED ON A MEAN RATING (1 ? 10 SCALE)

CRITERIA

2007 Q1

2007 Q2

Ruggedness/Toughness