{"id":3607,"date":"2009-01-21T06:19:59","date_gmt":"2009-01-21T06:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/?p=3607"},"modified":"2009-01-20T14:36:40","modified_gmt":"2009-01-20T14:36:40","slug":"toyota-looks-to-the-next-generation-brand-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/toyota-looks-to-the-next-generation-brand-champion\/","title":{"rendered":"Toyota Looks to the Next Generation Brand Champion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Tuesday, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.toyota.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Toyota<\/a> made a move to leverage the power of a brand champion by naming Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the company&#8217;s founder, as the company&#8217;s new president.\u00a0 Brand champions such as Hugh Hefner for Playboy and\u00a0Steve Jobs for Apple can play a powerful role in developing and promoting a brand image and promise.\u00a0 Brand champions become living embodiments of the brands they advocate and protect, and often become celebrities for no other reason by their role as the face of those brands.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For Toyota, which posted its first loss in 2008 since the company was started in 1937, naming Toyoda as the new president could provide a perceived sense of security to consumers and stockholders who associate the brand champion&#8217;s last name with the company&#8217;s success.\u00a0 Of course, Toyota doesn&#8217;t operate based on the word of its president.\u00a0 Instead, it&#8217;s very much a consensus organization, but nevertheless, Toyoda brings a sense of heritage that harkens back to a time when the company could do no wrong.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>In an article that appeared in the <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2009\/01\/21\/business\/worldbusiness\/21toyota.html?_r=1&amp;partner=rss&amp;emc=rss\" target=\"_blank\">New York Times<\/a><\/em>, Toyoda (who was educated in the United States and speaks fluent English) said, \u201cIf I am going to be at the top of the car company, I want to be the owner-chef\u201d \u2014 with knowledge not just of its vehicles but their ingredients. I taste my car, and if it tastes good, I provide it to the customer.\u201d\u00a0 His hands on approach to learning the company from the top down (he&#8217;s been working there since 1986) will serve him well in his new roll as brand champion.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A successful brand champion needs to live his brand and fully believe in it.\u00a0 While analysts don&#8217;t believe that Toyoda will have an immediate impact on the company&#8217;s bottom-line, there is no doubt that his presence as the leader of Toyota could impact the brand.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>What do you think?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Tuesday, Toyota made a move to leverage the power of a brand champion by naming Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the company&#8217;s founder, as the company&#8217;s new president.\u00a0 Brand champions such as Hugh Hefner for Playboy and\u00a0Steve Jobs for Apple can play a powerful role in developing and promoting a brand image and promise.\u00a0 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[1172,874,99,318,110,807],"class_list":{"0":"post-3607","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-brand","7":"tag-akio-toyoda","8":"tag-brand-advocate","9":"tag-brand-champion","10":"tag-brand-guardian","11":"tag-corporate-branding","12":"tag-toyota","13":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Toyota Looks to the Next Generation Brand Champion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Akio Toyoda becomes the new president of Toyota. 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