The selling of a mini van! Middle America with sex and swagger.

This You Tube video has gone viral … it features the very middle class and somehow very … ummm … sexy suburban mom and a very plain dad that Toyota has used to boost sales of the Sienna. Well it’s working … and the hip hop take off is very entertaining and funny. Good for Toyota. Who knew that being a suburban housewife could be so appealing?

AOL, one of our advertisers, did a pretty nice breakdown on this … how the campaign started, the bottom line results … and … sorry to burst the bubble … the actors who do the commercial. Sigh! I thought they were real.

Sienna sales have been up dramatically since April, though whether the ad spot — which was posted to YouTube on May 2 — had much to do with that is questionable.

Drummond, who grew up in Sonoma, CA, and is pregnant with her first child, says she’s just bought her own Toyota for her growing family. Though its a new Rav4 rather than a Sienna, she’s “madly in love with it.” She’ll step up to a Sienna when the time is right, she says, “Or if I have twins.”

Drummond says she landed the spot by auditioning in Hollywood. She really wanted the gig, as she knew the commercial’s director, Jody Hill, and his work with musical collaborators Black Iris Music.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql-N3F1FhW4&feature=player_embedded

The campaign continues and “Mom” has become a star. Hey … Toyota … how a about a 50s guy with blotchy skin who needs to save money going to and from his very popular, audience growing radio show. I can’t rap … but I do play the violin … badly.

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Jim Vicevich

Jim is a veteran broadcaster and conservative/libertarian blogger with more than 25 years experience in TV and radio. Jim's was the long-term host of The Jim Vicevich Show on WTIC 1080 in Hartford from 2004 through 2019. Prior to radio, Jim worked as a business and financial reporter for NBC30 - the NBC owned TV station in Hartford - and as business editor at WFSB-TV in Hartford for 14 years while earning six Emmy nominations and three Telly Awards.

16 Comments

  1. billy-c-n-y on August 18, 2010 at 2:26 pm

    Howdy Jim; Nice Vid, I got three kid's and my swagger wagon is an F-150 seats 6,four-wheel drive,with a gun rack ,ladder rack,american flags at each corner,and a V.F.W poppy hanging from my mirror…rock on…alway's listening….B.C



  2. Wind on August 18, 2010 at 2:45 pm

    Ugh!!! I am very happy with my 1999 Chrysler Sebring Convertible and my Chevy Silverado 4WD PU.



  3. GdavidH on August 18, 2010 at 3:28 pm

    Sorry but I really like these commercials. Toyata vehicles bought and sold in the USA are almost completely built in the USA. Anyone who pays an overseas destination charge got suckered. Now…. my dodge was built in Canada, my ford explorer was only assembled in Kentucky( or Tennessee I don't remember) and my Honda was built in the USA. Best value= Honda. I love the USA and once said I would ONLY buy USA, but when you look at the reallity of it everything comes together from around the world and UNION labor contracts in the USA reduce value when comparing similar products. It's a sad fact, but do the research. Non-union employees at Honda U.S. and Toyota U.S. have great benefit packages. Lose the unions and make USA car makers competative again.

     By the way… whose cars sold overwhelmingly more during "cash for clunkers"??? Not GM or Chrysler or Ford. Boy oh boy that was wisdom.



  4. Tim-in-Alabama on August 18, 2010 at 5:17 pm

    I hate Toyota because they have an engine plant here in Alabama that took away jobs from Japanese workers. I feel the same way about Hyundai for building the Sonata here and taking jobs away from Koreans; Honda for building the Odyssey here and taking away more Japanese jobs; and Mercedes for building the M-Class here and leaving German workers out in the cold. These companies think they can produce clever, entertaining commercials and people will disregard the fact they're importing jobs into America and building good products at fair prices that people want to buy.



  5. winnie888 on August 18, 2010 at 5:59 pm

    Well, if only I'd been able to rap when my kids were young…*sigh*…I feel like I really missed out on something.

    Clever ad campaign, but I still wouldn't buy a Toyota….something about the possibility of my "swagger wagon" that doesn't stop when the brakes are applied?

    And as far as the violin goes, Jim: practice does help…lol  😀



    • Dimsdale on August 18, 2010 at 6:29 pm

      "Swagger wagon" with no brakes = the "vomit comet" of NASA fame?  😉

       

      I just find Toyotas to be painfully boring since they dropped the real Land Cruiser.



    • winnie888 on August 19, 2010 at 12:49 am

      "vomit comet"  AHAHAHAHAHA!  I have never heard that one, Dims!  Thanks for the early a.m. gut wrenching laugh!



  6. Dimsdale on August 18, 2010 at 6:27 pm

    For some reason, the suburban "mother" makes me think of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the Philippines.   And that is as far as I am going with that.  Blame the unholy friends I have.  Lawyers, doctors, degenerates.



    • winnie888 on August 19, 2010 at 12:51 am

      Ohhhhh….that's what that acronym means….heh heh heh



    • Dimsdale on August 19, 2010 at 3:36 am

      I always knew that terrorist organization would come in handy!  Made me laugh like hell the first time I heard it.



  7. Lucinda on August 18, 2010 at 6:39 pm

    Love it!

    Never had a minivan, though. I drove the original mom vehicle when my kids were little. An Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser station wagon – fully loaded, with a V-8. Bought used of course. Drove like a dream, could seat eight, held a lot of stuff, and could handle the snow. One of my favorite cars.



  8. BEA on August 19, 2010 at 4:55 am

    I just get a chuckle out of these commercials!! They are soooo funny!! Even with 3 children I swore I would never drive a mini van…until we outgrew our station wagon. Well, we are on our 2nd one. Had a Chrysler Town and Country that lasted 10 yrs. Now I actually have a Toyota "swagger wagon."  We've had it for four yrs and I have to say I'm enjoying it!! Now I have the proof for my children…I am "hip!" 🙂



  9. Dimsdale on August 19, 2010 at 5:13 am

    Is this the rebirth of the 60's/70's "sin bin"?  Do these vans rock with the new sophisticated suspensions?

     

    And no, I am not going to let my daughter into one unescorted!  😉



    • winnie888 on August 19, 2010 at 1:25 pm

      Dims, you talkin' about those lovely conversion vans (carpeted everything, waterbed, & wet-bar)?!?!?!?!!  By the time I hit high school in the mid/late 80s, I was reduced to dad's Dodge Aries K wagon thanks to my sister's record from the 70s.

      In the end, it really doesn't matter the vehicle, we all found something with wheels in which to park…lol (feel better yet? hee hee hee!)



    • Dimsdale on August 19, 2010 at 6:08 pm

      I had 17 people crammed into an old International Scout once.  Nobody could get into trouble though; we couldn't move!

       

      Nowadays, you can hide a webcam anywhere!



  10. Dimsdale on August 19, 2010 at 6:57 am

    Clearly, the guy in the commercials is thoroughly whipped.



Toyota, Drummond, sienna

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