“The Game of Life” and Millennials

​Toyota introduced the Prius c with an integrated marketing campaign aimed specifically at first-time car buyers—who also happen to be city-dwelling millennials. Taking into consideration the youthful, fun spirit of the Prius c, Toyota partnered with Hasbro to create “The Game of Life with Prius c.”

As stated by Bill Fay, group vice president marketing, in Toyota’s news release, “The Prius c campaign acknowledges the fact that buying a car is a big decision, as well as a new experience for many in this demographic. We wanted to give our customers something entertaining and engaging, yet familiar, they could identify with while introducing a vehicle to help them navigate this exciting new chapter in their lives.”

“Entertaining and engaging, yet familiar” is an interesting assumption. For baby boomers, the Game of Life was a fixture in their living rooms—and now in their memories. Do millennials have the same connection to this game?

Hitting All the Highlights

Toyota’s integrated marketing campaign certainly contains all the bells and whistles that typically engage millennials. For instance, digital programs, including those in partnership with YouTube, Facebook, Hype Machine, Pandora and Hulu, will leverage all digital screens—Web, mobile and tablet—to support the target audience’s media behavior. Additional partner collaborations will feature first-of-their-kind executions, such as a mobile spinwheel integration with Urbanspoon, custom Prius c badges on BuzzFeed, and sponsored free apps available on Amazon.com for the Kindle Fire.

The Prius c YouTube landing page greets visitors with a virtual game board where they interact with a series of videos on tips and tricks for navigating some of life’s more daunting tasks, such as “Car Buying 101,” “Wallet Wisdom” and “Tech Talk.” Likewise the Prius c section of the Toyota.com website features the bright colors and imagery of “The Game of Life” game board.

Similarly designed print ads are now appearing in major lifestyle publications, such as Time, People, InStyle andSports Illustrated. Billboards are being displayed in several markets. In addition, Toyota is running two TV commercials, “Malti-poo” and “Dolphin Tattoo,” that support the Game of Life campaign.

Toyota is certainly hitting all the highlights with the “The Game of Life with Prius c” campaign. But will millennials respond to this whimsical approach? Only time will tell.

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