It’s one of those matchups that makes too much sense to not fully exploit. Japanese auto giant Toyota and Pandora, the popular music streaming service, are turning our love of tunes into a content marketing field day.
In 2012 Toyota began offering Pandora service as an option on some of its vehicles. Toyota’s Entune infotainment system allows users to choose stations, skip songs and give tracks a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down,” all through the vehicle’s controls.
But that was just the beginning.
The relationship between the two companies has grown even more, with are leaning each other even further with Toyota Sessions, a custom branded station on Pandora featuring new artists who are building their buzz.
By aligning itself with the new music scene, Toyota’s content marketing automatically raises its profile with the discerning listener. The related interviews, videos, audio documentaries, and live concerts all get branded with the ‘Toyota Session’ name, and Toyota gets it foot in the door of a whole slew of customers and potential customers it might never have registered with.
Of course Pandora’s custom playlists also make it a perfect vehicle for learning about its listeners’ styles and tastes. Knowing which artists a customer listens to, when they listen, and where they listen, is the equivalent of information gold to a savvy marketer. Does Toyota get access to those details? We’re not sure, but we’re sure they want to. It’s a partnership that brings a bevy of benefits to both sides, and lets each company brand itself in a new way. Pandora gets into more cars, and Toyota gets melds with the hip and happening music scene.
So what do you think? Is there a similar way you can get you use content marketing for your business? Let us know if find some success. We’d love to write about it here!