Virat Kohli introduces India to 'Waku Doki' moments, for Toyota

Toyota has launched a new campaign which introduces its new brand ambassador Virat Kohli, and its new brand thought 'Waku Doki'.

A film shows a group of friends disappointed that they can't manage to get tickets for a football match. Enter Virat Kohli; he introduces 'Waku Doki', which confuses the group of friends. Kohli explains the term to them by getting them to sit in his Toyota Liva and driving them to the top of his terrace in the car. He stops at the edge of the road, giving the group of friends an aerial view of the game, much to the excitement of the group. The film ends with Kohli asking viewers to share their 'waku doki' moments with Toyota by logging on to www.toyotawakudoki.in.

Commenting on the 'Waku Doki' thought and the new campaign, Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said, "Waku Doki is a Japanese phrase, short for ‘Waku Waku Doki Doki’, which literally means 'heightened anticipation and excited heart thumping'. Through ‘Waku Doki’ we are trying to communicate the exhilaration and excitement in people  which they feel in their daily lives."

The campaign serves to inspire Toyota's engineers, employees, dealers and supply chain to 'personally look for opportunities to create Waku Doki experiences for our customers and ', according to Singh.

The agency, Percept H, was briefed that Toyota would take a step ahead in 2012 globally, by bringing fun and thrill to its equity.

Singh explained further, "Waku Doki will be used to propel new motivation internally and externally. The objective behind the campaign is to increase brand awareness of Toyota among its target audience with deeper emotional connect around Waku Doki. Accordingly, there are few media goals which are set to reach the mass audience in the market, competitive spending need to be done keeping in mind the close competitiors; also, 360-degree marketing need to be done so as to follow the target audience in daily motion. Waku Doki is a campaign meant primarily for the youth, so building affinity with key segments is the key area to work on."
    
Nilesh Naik, senior creative director, Percept H, said, “The task was to  make Waku-Doki synonyms with exciting, heart thumping moments. We did this through an integrated campaign which shows people from various walks of life, young and old experiencing Waku-Doki moments in their everyday life. Moments that every Indian can relate to”.

The campaign was launched on 12 June. A second phase will begin on 12 August and go on till 13 March 2013.

Besides the TVC, the campaign consists of print, radio, outdoor and cinema legs. A digital leg has been built around the website http://www.toyotawakudoki.in, where users can share their Waku Doki moments to win prizes ranging from a Nokia Lumia to Toyota-branded merchandise.