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Toyota has a message for anyone who still doubts the potential of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles: Lalalala we can't hear you! The company is set to launch a major new ad campaign for the Mirai sedan, its signature venture into the fuel cell mobility market, that consists of 37 billboards spread across Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Billboards generally get a bad rap as eyesores, and in that regard a billboard campaign doesn't exactly square with an environmental theme. But Toyota devised an unusual twist that makes a logical connection between outdoor advertising and a zero-emission car.
Battery EVs have a jump on the zero-emission mobility market, thanks partly to the public relations genius of Tesla's Elon Musk.
Toyota is among a number of legacy automakers that are making the push for fuel cell EV technology. The bet is that although fuel cell EVs are pricier now, they could compete with battery EVs for market share over the long run as costs go down.
The U.S. Energy Department seems to agree. The agency is eyeballing sustainable hydrogen and fuel cell EVs as key factors in the deep decarbonization of the U.S. economy.
That's not a magic trick. The billboards will be clad in vinyl coated with titanium dioxide, which acts as a kind of catalytic converter. Here's the explainer from Toyota:
"When oxygen reacts with the energized titanium dioxide catalyst, NOx is converted to nitrate and removed from the air. The light-activated, smog-reducing billboards continue to purify the air as long as light, humidity, airflow and the titanium dioxide coating are present."
Under the George W.Bush administration, Clear Channel established an affinity with the right side of the American political spectrum, a relationship that has continued (think: Rush Limbaugh).
The hookup with Toyota takes Outdoor Americas in a different direction. In a prepared statement, Outdoor Americas EVP and Senior Regional President Gene Leehan hinted that the company is interested in a more expansive approach:
"We are pleased to offer our environmentally-conscious clients, like Toyota, an even more eco-friendly printed vinyl option for their Out-of-Home (OOH) media campaigns ... This campaign marks a U.S. first for the use of this technology on OOH, and we look forward to making it available to other like-minded advertisers."
The pollution-scrubbing technology comes from PURETi Group, which has an exclusive usage agreement with Clear Channel Outdoor Americas for the outdoor category in the U.S.
PURETi has also lent its technology to a campaign in the U.K. for Naked Juice, marking the first time that the beverage company has used outdoor advertising.
Photo (cropped): courtesy of Toyota.
Tina writes frequently for TriplePundit and other websites, with a focus on military, government and corporate sustainability, clean tech research and emerging energy technologies. She is a former Deputy Director of Public Affairs of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, and author of books and articles on recycling and other conservation themes. She is currently Deputy Director of Public Information for the County of Union, New Jersey. Views expressed here are her own and do not necessarily reflect agency policy.