The category is experiencing fundamental shifts in consumer behaviour with regard to anytime, all-the-time video entertainment. As the mobile, on-demand culture evolves and cheaper devices are more accessible, consumers will continue to drive demand for content, making it critical for brands to develop entertaining franchises. Increasingly, savvy consumers will determine what content is worthy of engaging with, while technology and the web will shape the opportunities. With that said, Branded Entertainment is anticipated to remain on a significant growth path as content migrates across all platforms, becoming the new norm. In our realm, the category has flourished to become hyper-competitive, with limited opportunities and nominal degrees of restrictions (read as “Wild West”). The space will not be defined as traditional advertising has been over the past 60 years. Beyond renting audiences from media owners, brands now have the ability to assemble audiences themselves by producing and distributing creative content that is contextually and culturally relevant (read as 'Entertaining'). Instead of interrupting with out-of-context messages, brand narratives flow seamlessly throughout a cross-media content ecosystem. Resulting with consumers that are able to connect with a brand and engage in more compelling and complex ways than ever before.

Comedy is a critical element to emotionally connecting brands to consumers. Partnering with a comedy series provided Toyota with the ideal catalyst to create witty and authentic story lines. The break out hit, 'Modern Family', connects with viewers across multiple levels with neurotic and lovable characters while interlacing Toyota vehicles effortlessly, the way a consumer would do so in their everyday life. Hilarious family interactions and frequent mishaps spotlight the perfect vehicles for not so perfect situations. Whether learning to drive, racing to a restaurant, advertising your business, or changing Halloween costumes, Toyota's play essential and compelling characters in the storytelling.

According to the New York Times, 'Modern Family' had the no.1 rating last year in brand recall for a scripted television series. Toyota cars have popped up frequently on the show for the past 3 seasons, with Kantar Media estimating that Toyota cars made 16 appearances on the show in 2009 alone, racking up 8 minutes worth of screen time. According to global measurement leader iTVX, the 'Musical Man' episode achieved a total media value of $3,851,116. The season averaged 12m viewers in the 18-49 demographics and 22m total viewers per episode. The Sienna episode also achieved a 6.5 Q Ratio, which means it achieved 6.5 times the media value of what a traditional 30-second commercial in 'Modern Family' would have cost. Now we know, during 'highly enjoyable’ programming, recognition, positive brand feelings and intent increase - not only did we provide - no pun intended - a vehicle for side-splitting comedy, but we left viewers with a smile on their face and just maybe, a new perspective of the things you can do with a Toyota Sienna.