Anime is Revving Up Toyota’s Cool Factor Among Young, Diverse Audiences

Seven months ago, Toyota unveiled season one of its original anime series Grip. The five-episode series follows male protagonist Jae Kang, the charismatic son of a racing legend who whips through Japan in a GR Corolla. It also features some of Toyota’s other Gazoo Racing motorsport division cars including the GR Supra and GR 86.

Grip is the brainchild of Intertrend, one of Toyota’s longtime creative project agencies. The car marque’s group, vp of marketing Michael Tripp, told ADWEEK the series was developed to build awareness and excitement among young Asian-American consumers. Despite Toyota being a Japanese brand, the company has had a hard time attracting Asian-American buyers.

Asian-American consumers are an “influential consumer block,” according to a 2024 report from research firm NIQ, which predicts they will have $1.6 trillion in spending power this year.

The investment has paid off for Toyota, with season one garnering 31.3 million views across its episodes, trailers, and paid media content. It also drove an increase in positive brand perception across terms like “exciting” (+15%), “different” (+27%), and “inspiring” (+14%), according to Tripp.

The marketer said the series has been a surprise hit among young Asian-American women, which has led to its second season renewal, starting Oct.2.

The upcoming season has been designed to deepen ties with these viewers, centering around female protagonist Linh “Nitro” Lam, a racer with pink hair and a bubbly personality. The business has also dug even deeper into its Japanese roots, enlisting J-pop girl group Atarashii Gakko! (AG!) to soundtrack Nitro’s story.

Intertrend’s executive director of strategy and creative, Matthew Choy, said the strategy was a long-term play. “When a brand wins a young person over, they become a lifelong consumer,” he noted, adding this audience was “far more valuable just from a dollars standpoint,” than an older consumer.

“A company like Toyota, which is only going to sell a handful of [new] cars to a person over a lifetime, would much rather appeal to a young person,” he added.

And a large number of Asian-Americans are young. NIQ’s research noted that 58% are Gen Z.

Dabbling in anime

According to Statista, Toyota was the second best-selling car brand in the U.S. in 2023 behind Ford. For Gen Z and millennials, the Camry and Corolla are the third and fifth most-owned models respectively, per Insurify. However, according to internal data, it’s older Asian-American men who are most likely to buy its vehicles.

So far, dabbling in anime has allowed Toyota to build relationships with consumers beyond this audience.

Tripp said the series has been popular amongst the Black and LGBTQ+ communities as well. According to Polygon, Black Americans account for 17% of anime’s 18+ fanbase while 27% of anime viewers identify as LGBTQ+.

Tripp said from the start the brand wanted to create something genuine and culturally relevant with Grip. Anime has exploded in popularity as it has become increasingly accessible, through streaming services like Netflix and Crunchyroll.

The series was most popular amongst Asian-American women ages 18-24, for whom cars are not “top of mind,” said Choy.

“If you can tap into particular audiences and dial right in, especially with an organization like Toyota which markets to basically everyone…it’s super successful,” said Choy, explaining that the success among young women led to the creation of a central female character whose storylines would line up with the audience. 

Intertrend brought on Korean-based animation studio called DR Movie to bring Grip to life, spinning up season one in seven months. 

Toyota plans to promote Grip season two “like a movie studio,” said Choy — through trailers, social media, interviews with AG!, and live events.

And Intertrend’s work is expanding: it’s currently working on a campaign promoting Toyota’s newest all-electric vehicle through short-form storytelling.

Entertainment endeavors

Toyota has increasingly incorporated entertainment and pop culture into its marketing in recent years.

In March, it showcased a short film starring actress Hilary Swank and actor-comedian Jimmy O. Yang called “Land Cruiser Get Back Challenge,” and it partners with SiriusXM for an ongoing interview series called Sounds of the Road, where emerging musicians share their vehicle-related stories.

“It’s one thing to advertise your product, but it’s another thing to show your product in a way where a consumer is using [it] to do the things they love,” Tripp said.

These strategies have paid off in sales, where it counts. Tripp said that 26% of Toyota’s sales in 2023 were directly from its marketing activities.

While the company is still measuring results from the first season of Grip, Tripp revealed its driven a 40% increase in brand awareness among its target audience.

As season two rolls out, the brand and agency will continue to run performance tests to track awareness and excitement among young people.