Toyota revs up Pendoring with gold sponsorship

Pieter Klerck, senior manager, marketing communications planning & advertising of Toyota South Africa... ”Although Toyota’s target market reflects the rich diversity of South Africa’s demographics, the Afrikaans-speaking market has been, is and will continue to be important to the company as Afrikaans speakers, on average, are in the higher income groups (LSM 8-10) and continue to have considerable buying power.”

Ever since the Pendoring Advertising Awards were established in 1995, Toyota consistently took the lead by supporting Pendoring as a sponsor year after year. "Both the Afrikaans and the 'younger' market are extremely important for Toyota. Through Pendoring the marque has the opportunity to communicate with both segments, particularly with the dynamic younger market," explains Pieter Klerk, senior manager: marketing communication and advertising at Toyota.

He points out other similarities between Pendoring and Toyota: "Advertising creators are constantly striving to find better ways of doing things more creatively and impactfully. At Toyota, we subscribe to this, as embodied in the word 'kaizen' (to continuously improve)."

Klerck reckons the secret of successful marketing (that delivers a return on investment), is to communicate with consumers in their home language, "in the way the language is spoken, not the written word. When you speak to consumers in another language, you speak to their heads; but when you speak to them in their mother tongue, you manage to touch their hearts. In terms of language and culture, people, including Afrikaans speakers, are emotional beings who tend to think with their hearts instead of their heads," he adds.

Although Toyota's target market reflects the rich diversity of South Africa's demographics, the Afrikaans-speaking market has been, is and will continue to be important to the company as Afrikaans speakers, on average, are in the higher income groups (LSM 8-10) and continue to have considerable buying power.

Klerck is not in the least concerned about the future of Afrikaans. "As long as Afrikaans is spoken, sung and written in prose or poetry, the language will continue to exist, therefore Pendoring will continue to have a role, not only to emphasise and showcase the impact of sharp Afrikaans advertising, but, more importantly, to raise awareness among marketers of the commercial value of Afrikaans."

Pendoring chairman Japie Gouws has come out in praise of Toyota for its long-standing Pendoring association and sponsorship. "It's this type of enthusiasm and support that enables Pendoring to stake its claim in the advertising world.

"As Afrikaans is under threat in various sectors and spheres, more and more Afrikaans speakers realise the importance of rallying behind and supporting the language. For this reason Pendoring stands firm to demonstrate the creativity and power of Afrikaans year after year," Gouws stresses.