Toyota Seeks To Elevate Scion Brand With A Brand

Pop culture scholars have long noted that in America, the auto is an extension of the owner's personality. (This makes me Pigpen from Peanuts, I fear.) Toyota's new Scion campaign is banking on this association. Its new ScionSpeak site invites customers to use online tools to create a driving "coat of arms" that they can actually download and have airbrushed onto their Scions. How's that for a clever branding campaign? You boost the corporate brand by letting consumers create their own.

The New York Times: March 24, 2008
By Lynnley Browning