See how Saatchi & Saatchi LA's interactive media team drives success for Toyota's Yaris with a multi-channel rich media campaign.

The interactive media team at Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles is pulling out all the stops for Toyota's new subcompact car, the Yaris. The resulting multi-channel rich media campaign is designed to reach people around the clock-- even if they never see a Yaris ad, drive past a Yaris billboard, or visit a Toyota showroom.

Although Toyota's overall promotional strategy for its latest nameplate involves one-to-one marketing events, digital is the hub of the campaign, says Peter Kang, creative director of interactive and emerging media at Saatchi & Saatchi LA. "That's where the two-way aspect of the campaign begins," he says. "If you can't see and touch one of these cars in person, we're going to cover it some other way."

On June 26, Saatchi & Saatchi rolled out a truly groundbreaking digital component: the first real-time multi-player game within a banner ad. A joint project with Adobe Software showcasing the latest Macromedia technology, the game allows anyone viewing the ad to challenge other viewers to "race" Yaris cars through city streets. Dozens of players can participate at any given time, and at the end of a race, the banner directs participants to the Yaris website for more information.

Another newly launched banner ad features a group of Yaris cars, each one playing a different drum sample when it's clicked. Users can create a unique piece of music, record it, and send it to their mobile phones as a free ringtone-- all within the banner.

The campaign includes other mobile elements, as well. Visitors to the Yaris website can already download "mobisodes," short video clips, to their cell phones. In addition, Toyota is sponsoring a contest in which teams of students create Yaris-themed games for mobile phones. The winning team will receive $25,000, and its game will be available on the website.

Elsewhere on the site, Toyota offers interactive digital guides to the five U.S. cities chosen for major Yaris sales events. Each guide delivers directions to and descriptions of hip restaurants, clubs, and attractions chosen to appeal to young, pop culture-loving consumers.

The market for Toyota's other entry-level nameplate, Scion, sees digital media as an end in itself. By contrast, Kang says, the Yaris demographic also devours rich media, but as an adjunct to pop culture and mass media. These "Upbeat Indy" consumers don't simply watch a TV show like "Lost"-- they blog about the show, examine screen shots to tease out clues about the plot and send text messages to friends while they watch.

That, in a nutshell, is why Saatchi & Saatchi is treating the Yaris website as the destination point of all the other campaign components, both digital and traditional. "We expect everyone to land there eventually, whether they come through a Google search, an eBay Motors listing, or a banner at a Toyota dealer," Kang says. "With all this rich media going on, we're looking at traditional media buys on a case-by-case basis."

The Yaris campaign launched in April, but Saatchi & Saatchi LA will be adding new interactive components on an ongoing basis for the foreseeable future.

"We're trying to do something that really fits with the spirit of the campaign -- 'breaking new ground,'" he concludes. "The luxury of working with Toyota is that it's such a powerhouse brand that you don't have to remind consumers what it is."

Fawn Fitter is a freelance writer. Read her full bio.