PRWeek: Toyota Motor North America enlists gray wolf for comms support around NFL partnership
The agency initially consulted on the brand’s Super Bowl and NFL Draft campaigns before securing a longer-term retainer at the end of May. Link to the full article here.
Toyota Motor North America has brought on Gray Wolf to provide communications support around its official partnership with the National Football League.
In October, Toyota Motor North America became the official automotive partner of the NFL. Gray Wolf will be focused on communications consulting and execution and driving greater ROI as part of Toyota’s engagement with the league, according to Gray Wolf partner and cofounder Layton Lassiter.
Gray Wolf initially consulted on Toyota Motor North America’s Super Bowl and NFL Draft campaigns before securing a longer-term retainer that was effective at the end of May.
As part of the new agreement, which is initially expected to last the duration of Toyota’s fiscal, coinciding with the NFL season, Gray Wolf worked with the brand to announce Tuesday that Toyota will be the presenting sponsor of NFL Flag, the largest national flag football league.
“We look at it as the 365 days of opportunity and that's where this partnership is rooted,” Gray Wolf partner and cofounder Shaun Clair said. “Whether it's integrated planning with the agencies or having these execution moments like the Super Bowl draft and [the NFL Flag] announcement, we see it as a chance for [Toyota] to get support throughout the year.”
Clair and Lassiter are leading the account. Between the founders, who run day-to-day operations of the agency alongside consultants, the two have experience as working personnel on behalf of brands at 15 Super Bowls, which is part of the reason their expertise was sought out by Toyota, Clair said.
2024 marks the first full season of Toyota’s NFL sponsorship. To take full advantage of the league’s calendar, Gray Wolf is looking to the NFL Flag Championship next month and NFL kickoff and training camps in September as areas where they’ll be creating moments throughout the year.
No corresponding structural agency changes were made to accommodate the addition of Gray Wolf for support on Toyota’s new partnership. The firm was added to the automotive brand's existing roster which includes MKTG for sponsorship marketing, Saatchi & Saatchi as the brand’s general market creative agency, Czarnowski on experiential, and multicultural agencies Burrell and Conill on Hispanic marketing and Intertrend for Asian American marketing.
“Part of the value that we give to [Toyota] is not only in the execution phase, but rather working with their agency roster on what ideas are going to resonate with fans and create stories that will ultimately be shareable with fans and media alike,” Clair said, noting that Gray Wolf doesn’t aspire to be an agency of record.
Amplifying partnerships in the earned space is highly specialized work, he added, explaining that the brands the firm partners with expect Gray Wolf to be the bridge between comms and sponsorship marketing.
Gray Wolf is working directly with brands like Toyota to add value to existing agency structures, as well as with agencies to support clients active in the sports entertainment space.
Budget details of the partnership were not disclosed.
Gray Wolf is an earned media-focused agency based in Jersey City. Launched in January of this year by Endeavor alums Lassiter and Clair, the firm has worked with brands including the MLB, Under Armour, Coca-Cola, Jim Beam and Microsoft, according to the agency’s website.
In Q4, Toyota Motor Company reported an operating income of $3.6 billion in North America. Net revenues for the period totaled $311 billion, an increase of 21.4% from the year prior. For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025, the company forecasts consolidated net revenue of $317.2 billion, according to a statement from the company.