WHY THE 2011 TOYOTA SIENNA SWAGGER WAGON AD IS PERFECT

Let’s you and I go on the record: I’m not in the market for a minivan. And you? You know the 2011 Toyota Sienna would be the rational choice, but the Toyota Highlander holds more appeal, the Mazda CX-9 is gorgeous, and you could cram your stuff in a 2010 Toyota 4Runner, too. Hey, it’s a Good 12 Supersize winner – the Sienna ain’t and likely won’t be.

Strangely enough, certain crossovers and SUVs are collecting a minivan-like image problem. Why would you drive a large vehicle with three rows of seats, no off-road capability, and no all-wheel drive…. unless you had children? Does the purchase of a Mazda CX-9 provide you with less of a Soccer Mom image than the purchase of a 2011 Toyota Sienna? Doubtful.

Toyota has now come to the realization, however, that their minivan’s image problem might as well be something on which to capitalize. So a minivan is a great vehicle for parents? Uh… great! Minivans are the official vehicle of the suburbs? S’fine with suburbanites! Minivans transport children to playdates? Good, they do it better than anything else!

This is the message behind the 2011 Toyota Sienna’s Swagger Wagon video promo. The official version is nearly up to 400,000 views on YouTube. 2 minutes and 35 seconds of minivan humour is the ideal way to start your day. Will this ad have any impact on the Sienna’s middling success in the U.S. Marketplace? I can see how it would. Rather than focus solely on the Sienna’s unexpectedly dramatic appearance or its completely anticipated crash test perfection or diverting the focus away from its instrinsic minivan nature, Toyota is playing it up.

It’s a minivan – deal with it. People will choose the 2011 Toyota Sienna because they are people who drop their children off at school, because they take their kids to hockey practice at 6am, because they have kids who spill cheerios down in the seat cracks, because their stereo will play Sharon, Lois & Bram more often than Rihanna. Why not advertise directly at these people rather than think up a Sienna ad that would appeal to me and finding out I’m not your target market? Click through the jump for a look at the Swagger Wagon video.

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