Toyota was honored with the 2011 NASCAR Marketing Achievement Award on Thursday at the NASCAR NMPA Myers Brothers Awards held at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino. Toyota's Sponsafier, PitPass and Owners Hospitality campaigns directly engaged NASCAR fans through the implementation of an integrated social media campaign as well as an at-track fan activation display.

Each year, NASCAR recognizes an industry partner who has exemplified the spirit of NASCAR through integrated marketing campaigns for all racing fans, consumers and employees.

"In its eighth year as an official partner, Toyota is executing multiple NASCAR branded advertising and social media campaigns to complement their at-track activation programs that allow them to engage fans throughout the season," said Jim O'Connell, vice president and chief sales officer for NASCAR. "Toyota is raising the bar for fan activation with its Sponsafier and PitPass program, not only in NASCAR but in all of sports."

"Toyota is honored to receive the NASCAR Marketing Achievement Award," said Ed Laukes, vice president of marketing communications and motorsports for Toyota. "Our commitment to becoming a champion of the fans by providing the best fan experience possible has truly paid off. Our in-vehicle experiences and opt-in rates are more successful at NASCAR events than any other ride and drive deployment we execute all year. We thank NASCAR for its continued support, and look forward to increasing fan interaction and excitement even more during the 2012 season."

Toyota's online consumer engagement contest, Sponsafier, returned in 2011 with a new website, as well as TV, print, radio and online advertisements that featured Toyota NASCAR drivers Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin. Sponsafier allowed fans to create a custom Toyota Camry NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car and enter for a chance to spend time with their favorite Toyota NASCAR driver. The campaign generated 220,000 registered users and three million page views to go along with 63,000 designs submitted and more than 400,000 fan votes gathered. The Sponsafier 3 winning design incorporated the Chelsea's Hope Foundation logo in hopes of raising awareness about Lafora Disease. A charity event was held shortly after the selection in Sonoma, Calif. during the Infineon Raceway race weekend to help raise funding for Lafora Disease research.

Toyota's PitPass program featured 20,000 square feet of fan activations that included a NASCAR technical garage, Sprint Cup Series Camry cutaway car, NASCAR photo booth, Toyota driver appearances and a full range of Toyota vehicles on display. Toyota captured the data and established an ongoing dialogue with fans after each event by registering more than 40,000 fans at their 2011 PitPass exhibit.