2022 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

As the iconic Toyota Land Cruiser started losing its connection with younger drivers(18-35), it wasn’t enough to communicate using traditional channels. By tapping into UAE’s unique subculture of late-night cafeteria drives, Toyota Land Cruiser, a legacy vehicle, partnered with Al Ijaza -a legacy cafeteria- to create an immersive experience called “Station Cafeteria”. This cultural collaboration included a co-created, Land Cruiser-themed menu, merch drops, and carhop test drives of the new LC300. In this mutually beneficial partnership, we authentically connected LC300 with young drivers and their lifestyle, celebrated cafeteria culture and recorded highest weekend orders in Ijaza’s 30+ years history.

Background

The Toyota Land Cruiser (LC) has an iconic status in the UAE. But over the years, the LC had lost its meaning with young drivers, who didn’t ‘get’ its iconic appeal. With the launch of the new LC300, we wanted to take this opportunity to connect with young drivers and show the car as a vehicle for a youth-oriented lifestyle, with a playful nod to its legacy. We saw street culture as a way in with them, with proof seen in the celebration of street icons in youth fashion, film, art, and design. While collaborations in street culture have captured the imagination of the youth, their success depends on its authenticity. So, we needed to tap into something that’s distinctively UAE, and instinctively Land Cruiser.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Every night, young drivers with super cars to regular sedans, line up outside street-side cafeterias in the UAE, for a taste of their unique juice menu. A menu whose offerings read as a rolodex of national heroes, cultural icons, and famous events. Mango juice is rechristened as ‘Burj Khalifa’ and strawberry juice as ‘Messi’. Same goes for ‘Maradona’, ‘Superman’ and ‘Titanic’. In the true spirit of these cafeterias, we created a new beverage for an icon of our own - the ‘Land Cruiser’ juice, in partnership with UAE’s most iconic cafeteria – Al Ijaza. This new juice creation became the central piece of ‘Station Cafeteria’, a Land Cruiser-themed pop-up and drive-thru experience. ’Station Cafeteria’ - named in homage to the nickname Emiratis gave the original LC in the 70s - was fully immersive, complete with a limited-edition menu, exclusive merch drops and carhop test drives of the all-new LC300.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

In this region, the category has no shortage of glamorous communication around expected driving rituals like off-roading, fast-cars and cosmopolitian cruising. However, a missed phenomenon is the Late-night Cafeteria Drive. These underrated streetside cafeterias have become places for young people to gather for generations. Here, icons are reimagined as eccentrically named fruit juices that commemorate their popularity (i.e., ‘Burj Khalifa’, ‘Messi’, ‘Snapchat’). At the center of this unique subculture is Al Ijaza, one of the most popular cafeterias. Its street cred peaked after featuring in a local film ‘City of Life’ and appearing on the beloved Crown Prince of Dubai’s Snapchat story. With the Land Cruiser being a popular sight on this Drive, we saw it as an opportunity to reconnect with young drivers, and celebrate this driving ritual. For Ijaza, this collaboration cements their peak culture status and opens a new revenue stream, after a difficult 2020.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

'Station Cafeteria' came to life across three dimensions: food, fashion and 4x4s. For Food, we co-created the ‘Menufesto’ with Ijaza, an exclusive nine-item menu, featuring Land Cruiser-themed twists to cafeteria classics. The Menufesto included a series of stories that paid homage to cafeteria culture, and immersed drivers into this iconic driving ritual. Then, in Fashion, we created an exclusive drop of hype tees, car accessories and trucker caps inspired by the retro and nostalgia of UAE’s street. Finally, with 4x4s – we noticed visitors driving around the block, waiting for their food to be prepared and invited them to spend this time in test-driving the LC300. Prior to the pop-up’s launch, we teased an edgy promo film featuring some of Dubai’s future street icons. We fuelled this hype by sending personalised merchandise to prominent influencers within the food, art, lifestyle and car communities.

List the results (30% of vote)

Across three weekends, 72,000 people visited the pop-up. 'Station Cafeteria' amassed over 2.1 million impressions and a total reach of 910,000. Test drive sign-ups increased by 36% for the new Land Cruiser in comparison to the month prior. Ijaza’s number of orders increased by 48%, in comparison to an average weekend. Toyota and Ijaza caught the attention of the region’s ultimate curator of cool – HypeBeast Arabia. For the National Day Weekend, ‘Station Cafeteria’ was listed as one of the ‘top things to do’ by Gulf News, and featured on local publications like Lovin Dubai, Autodrift, and Al Bayan. The addition of the Land Cruiser juice became so famous that fans asked for it to be included in Ijaza’s permanent menu, ensuring that Land Cruiser becomes a part of the UAE’s cultural legacy for as long as street cafeterias are standing.