‘Toyotathon’ – Car Giant to Spend $1 Billion on Marketing in US

Written By: guyjin on September 22, 2009 42 Comments

Toyota is going on the offense at the end of the year in the US, with a massive launch to their ‘Toyotathon’ marketing and sales campaign which has been a fixture for about three decades. After being the biggest selling maker under the Obama government’s ‘Cash for Clunkers’ policy, Toyota believe themselves well placed to capitalize on what they see as a strengthening economy.

As a result, they will spend an unprecedented $1 billion in the US for a three month marketing push. This is said to be about 40% higher than is normally spent over this period, which is their best selling time of the year. This boost to marketing comes on the back of the first annual loss for Toyota, which is still the world’s biggest car maker. Sales in the US have been on the up though, and its great to see some big names like Toyota getting out in front of the recession and ‘refusing to take part’ anymore.

It remains to be seen whether or not the marketing push will pay off. But after a prolonged period of low car sales, the market will eventually need to start catching up with replacing vehicles that are overdue for replacement. Its a gutsy move by Toyota to throw so much money around, and if nothing else its a statement that ‘we are strong’. After a year in which two of the US ‘Big 3′ went through major upheavals and government help, Toyota’s statement may just be something the public can rally behind…