The minivan usually conjures up thoughts of traditional suburban moms driving their kids to soccer practice. That dull image has recently been given a jolt of hip hop excitement.
Toyota has been running a very unique marketing campaign in which they present their latest minivan, the Sienna SE, as “The Swagger Wagon” and feature a mom and dad rapping over a professionally produced beat. The commercial manages to be hilarious and almost too painful to watch at the same time. Check out some of the lyrics as well as the video itself:
“Straight ownin’ bake sales with my cupcake skills, I’m better with the money so I handle the bills.”
“I love hangin’ with my daughter, havin’ tea, keep my pinkie up.”
While it definitely gives us a cheap laugh, this campaign was implemented for a reason.
According to a Forbes.com article, the minivan is attempting to reach out to the hip-hop demographic because of plummeting minivan popularity. Sales have been horrible in the last few years as many people have turned to up-and-coming crossover vehicles.
Other major automakers have abandoned minivans, but Toyota seems to believe that rap lines such as “we rock the SE not a SUV, and it’s true if I were you I’d be jealous of me, in my swagger wagon!” will be enough to spark a radical turn-around.
How will people react to this bold campaign? If the Youtube video comments are any indication, then the market currently features divergent opinion. The most recent comments range from “lol the best video ever” to “so reh-tarded,” indicating a divided consumer base. We will have to wait to see the effects of these Youtube comments on the major auto-related economic indicators.
What do you all think? Are we about to see popular rappers cruising around in the new Sienna SE?
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on August 27th, 2010 at 10:10 am
it’s like that kia sorento car, with the big hamster things rapping.
it’s going to take a lot more than rapping in a commercial to get people to purchase vans.
on August 27th, 2010 at 11:40 pm
Oh, Forbes Magazine, I hope by “aims to reach the hip-hop crowd” you mean “aims to reach the not unsizable crowd of suburban white kids who grew up appropriating hip-hop and rap and now have kids of their own.” It’s a really good commercial for that.
Biz Markie may be on Yo Gabba Gabba, but club bangers don’t spin Yo Gabba Gabba.
And for the record, I had to check how to properly word that last phrase (Thank you XXLmag.com, which consequently, has 0 search results for “Toyota Sienna.” Rides-mag.com also has 0 search results for “Toyota Sienna.”)
on August 28th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
@young eun: Good call, I forgot about that one. I guess rapping is par for the course these days for van advertisements.
@May or May Not: I know, I can’t believe Forbes referred to reaching “the hip-hop crowd” when it’s clearly a parody and meant to poke fun at the suburban family demographic. That’s exactly what I was thinking when I wrote this, but I decided to just let it slide. Great point; it is very effective for what you describe.
on August 29th, 2010 at 6:19 am
Funniest thing that I have seen in a while, probably will sell cars and that’s the funny thing about it.
It’s quite simple when you really think about it, They are using popular culture to sell their product, who is going to forget the add when they see it?
on August 30th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
I cannot wait for the day when I look around at a stoplight and see some gold-tooth thugs jammin’ out to DMX in a Sienna. THAT? Would be most awesome.