Scion’s Sponsorship of Gossip Girl Acapulco: Total Market Strategy at Its Best

by Sara Hasson / Univision Insights

Last month, Univision kicked off its partnership with Scion with a campaign that shines a light on the brand’s “Pure Process” buying system, a tool that allows customers to easily navigate pricing directly through Scion.com, including financing, insurance and service agreements. The deal marked Scion’s very first Spanish-language upfront buy, and with Hispanics buying more new cars than ever before, how could they resist?

In an effort to deepen their connection with Hispanics, Scion is working with Univision to fuel a marketing plan across Univision’s suite of properties that supports a total market strategy. Scion’s plan incorporates culturally-relevant tactics, from product innovation to creative execution, recognizing the keys to winning with this valuable audience. For example, instead of simply translating their “Pure Process” creative for Hispanic audiences, the brand worked with Univision’s Innovation Marketing and Strategy and Insights teams to “Latinize” the campaign, building messaging around Hispanic consumer passion points, including sports, entertainment and movies.

The most innovative attraction of this partnership is Scion’s exclusive sponsorship of UniMás network’s hot new series “Gossip Girl Acapulco.”  Last Thursday, October 10th, the sponsorship launched with custom-built, co-branded integrated features and tune-in messages, blurring the lines between content and advertising, and bringing “Pure Process” to life for not only the Hispanic market, but also to elusive millennials.  And, of course, who wouldn’t want to target the most popular generation of our time? In fact, according to Polk auto registration data, Hispanic millennials comprise 15.2% of new vehicle sales compared to 10.9% for non-Hispanics.

Given the importance of this segment to automakers, our cornerstone co-creation is a 30-second commercial, now in rotation during the show and throughout the UniMás schedule, which takes “Gossip Girl Acapulco’s” lead millennial characters, Sophia and Daniel, to Scion.com to engage with “Pure Process.” True to the show’s storyline, Daniel – who is constantly hoping to endear and impress Sophia — finds himself stuck without a car, but with the help of “Pure Process,” he manages to purchase a new car in no time.

Scion’s product innovation and marketing prowess helps bring to life the simplicity, tech-forward, and instant-gratification culture of millennials, both Hispanic and general market alike.  In culture, in-context, in-language:  Scion’s “Pure Process” campaign with Univision Communications is truly total market strategy at its best.