Toyota Launches Spy Theme Ads for New Avalon with Former Star of ‘The Wire’

After launching a sleek redesign for its top-of-the-line Avalon, Toyota has unleashed a slick new campaign for the Georgetown made vehicle.

The campaign, titled “Only the Name Remains,” will play out over the next year in a series of “spy themed” commercials according to Toyota Motor Sales’ National Manager of Target Advertising and Strategy, David Chung.

“We wanted to create a campaign that matched those exciting emotions behind the launch of this product. So we worked closely together with our agency partner, Burrell [Communications] in trying to come up with a campaign that tries to match that excitement,” Chung said.

To accomplish that, Toyota and LA and Chicago-based Burrell enlisted Golden Globe winning and Emmy nominated British actor Idris Elba. Perhaps best known for his role as a Baltimore drug kingpin who sought to turn his ill-gotten gains into a legit fortune as Stinger Bell on HBO’s The Wire, Elba has starred in numerous movies and other TV shows including a seven-episode role on the American version of The Office and his award winning role as London detective John Luther on BBC/BBC America’s Luther.

“One thing we really liked about Idris is the diverse roles he’s taken on and in reviewing some of the other candidates he exuded most of the attributes of the Avalon we wanted to highlight like distinctive styling, the excitement, the aura of sophistication.” Chung said. “Based on the range that Idris had, I think the final execution, he played that perfectly.”

The ads, which started airing at the first of the month, will target an African American demographic in their late 30s to late 40s, Chung said. While a series of three ads are available on You Tube in addition to an interactive site www.OnlytheName.com, the spots will roll out on TV networks such as BET, OWN, Bounce TV and TV One.

“We realized it was such a radical new styling both the with interior and exterior we really wanted to kind of capture the development of the campaign that understood how significant the product’s changed,” Chung said.

“Really the only thing that’s a carry over is the name. Everything’s dramatically improved from the technology inside the vehicle to the driving characteristics to the sexy styling of the vehicle,” he added.

Another characteristic of the new generation of the Avalon that was apparent in its past is its relatively low price point for being a loaded flagship vehicle. The entry level edition of the new Avalon is listed just north of $30,000, though Chung said he expects the price to stay separate from the Only the Name spots as dealer commercials will tackle value.

Courtesy of Business Lexington.