Make Your Own Delicious Witches Brew This Halloween

As Halloween approaches, we're sure many of you are shopping for...or breaking into...the Halloween treats already. With candy and sweets readily available, we thought we'd share a recipe for a festive drink instead of treat.

Be warned, this drink does have a little trick, though.

This Witches Brew drink from ACoupleofCooks.com is the perfect combination of Halloween spirit and flavor. Here's what you need:

• Midori (a bright green Japanese melon-flavored liqueur)
• Cointreu or Triple Sec (orange liqueur)
• Fresh lemon juice
• Dry ice

All you have to do is mix the ingredients and strain into a glass, then add the dry ice and watch your Witches Brew come to life! It's important to remember (and warn any guests) not to touch the dry ice with fingers or lips. It should dissolve in about 5 minutes, but the drink can be cautiously sipped until then so this treat doesn't turn into a trick!

Happy Halloween!

How Toyota’s U.S. Manufacturers Fuel Community and Sustainability

Toyota has been supporting regional suppliers and local economies for the past 60 years — fostering a close connection between the company, its customers and its surrounding communities. Including Toyota’s new battery plant in North Carolina – Toyota has 11 manufacturing plants in the U.S. (including a joint venture with Mazda), employing over 39,000 people to design, engineer and assemble the vehicles driven by their friends and neighbors.

By supporting thousands of employees, a network of suppliers and contractors, and their respective families, each Toyota plant helps to sustain a community. Toyota’s manufacturing plants are unique. Find out what’s been happening at the plants over the past year.

Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas: Home of the Sequoia

Three years after Toyota invested $391 million in the San Antonio plant, Toyota Texas is celebrating the start of production on the all-new, all-hybrid Toyota Sequoia. Alongside the all-new Tundra, the vehicle will be exclusively assembled in San Antonio’s upgraded facility. To celebrate, Toyota Texas donated a combined $100,000 to the San Antonio River Foundation and the San Antonio Parks Foundation in support of tree preservation and other local environmental stewardship initiatives.

Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Indiana: Investing in Innovation

Toyota announced an $803 million investment and 1,400 new jobs at Toyota Indiana, the Princeton-based plant that assembled the very first North American Toyota Tundra. Some of Toyota’s most loved vehicles are assembled at the plant, including models of the Highlander and Sienna, which will now also be assembling Toyota’s two new electrified SUVs.

Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Mississippi: Accelerating Education

This June marked the grand opening of the Toyota Mississippi Experience Center, an interactive museum in Blue Springs that highlights Toyota Mississippi’s local manufacturing processes and careers. Through state-of-the-art technologies such as simulators and robots, the workforce training and experience center aims to educate visitors on the beauty and brains behind some of America’s best-selling vehicles. Toyota Mississippi is also supporting education in its community by funding a new Mobile STEAM lab through a $75,000 donation to the Girl Scouts of the South.

Toyota Motor North America: Expanding Electrification Nationwide

Toyota is investing $383 million in upgrades for its Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee plants to increase their production of four-cylinder engines, including options for hybrid-electric vehicles. Part of the $5.1 billion investment Toyota made last year in its United States manufacturers, the upgrades will help Toyota fulfill its commitments to supporting local economies and electrifying its entire fleet by 2050.

TABC, Inc.: 50 Years of Quality

Toyota’s Long Beach manufacturer celebrated its 50th anniversary this September with $200,000 in community investments and the donation of vehicles to Rancho Los Alamitos and the Long Beach Ronald McDonald House. First contracted by Toyota in 1972 as Atlas Fabricators, the plant is now a primary supplier of parts for the Tacoma and past models of all North American Toyota vehicles. This past March, the operation received a $27 million investment to increase its production. 

Toyota Battery Manufacturing, North Carolina.: Powering Progress

Investing $2.5 billion in its newest North American facility, Toyota North Carolina, Toyota is continuing to work toward carbon neutrality in vehicles and global operations by 2035. The facility, located in Liberty, North Carolina, will begin producing batteries for both hybrid and full-electric vehicles in 2025, employing 350 additional people in the process. The investment is part of a $70 billion global investment in electrification, which was announced last year. The new plant is already having an impact in the community, with a $1 million donation to Communities in Schools of Randolph County (CiSRC) and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NC A&T) to help expand STEAM education opportunities.

Toyota’s Production Engineering and Manufacturing Center: Engineering the Future

As part of its electrification efforts, Toyota is adding 220 new positions to its Production Engineering Division, which will help the existing 1,800-plus Toyota engineers across North America continue to improve and increase manufacturing. The expansion of the Georgetown, Kentucky facility will help the company meet its goals to expand its global portfolio of electrified vehicles to 70 by 2025.

Toyota Motor Manufacturing, West Virginia: Transformative Transaxles

Toyota is investing $240 million in a dedicated production line of hybrid transaxles for its Buffalo, West Virginia plant, which will help to both modernize the facility and advance the company’s larger electrification and carbon neutrality goals. In February, the company announced a $70 million investment to increase capacity for the transaxle line and start production of rear motor stators. 

Toyota Lives Legendary in All-New 2023 Sequoia

Toyota invites drivers to create legendary moments in the powerful all-new 2023 Sequoia with the “Live Legendary” campaign. Set sights on the open road and highlights the hybrid SUV’s premium and powerful features and create their own legends.

“Recognizing stories of people in their moments of epic experiences, the ‘Live Legendary’ campaign exemplifies the bold qualities of the all-new Sequoia,” said Lisa Materazzo, group vice president, Toyota Marketing, Toyota Motor North America. “The all-new Sequoia is the total package for any adventure, whether driving across country, hauling gear or traveling with your family.”

The campaign showcases the SUV’s space for families who need it – whether that be to haul passengers, gear or both, and is highlighted below:

In the thirty second spot, titled “Campfire Stories” and directed by Chris Sargent, viewers are invited to seek adventure and make legendary moments in the all-new powerful i-FORCE MAX Twin Turbo V6 Hybrid Sequoia. The spot highlights the Sequoia’s new look while showcasing impressive towing capability, premium comfort and key features including an efficient powertrain, convenient technology, and versatile cargo space.

About the 2023 Toyota Sequoia

The all-new 2023 Toyota Sequoia lives up to its powerful and legendary namesake, thanks to a head-turning new look, luxurious comfort, impressive technology and the perfect blend of performance and efficiency.

The third-generation Sequoia is completely redesigned and worthy of the “all-new SUV” description. All 2023 Sequoia will feature the powerful i-FORCE MAX Twin Turbo V6 Hybrid powertrain. First unveiled on Tundra, this exceptional hybrid produces 437 horsepower and 583 lb.-ft. of torque. The vehicle is on sale starting Fall 2022 with a starting MSRP of $58,300.

It will be available in five unique grades that include SR5, Limited, Platinum, TRD Pro and the new Capstone grade.

Key Features Include:

• All-New Sequoia Builds Upon Three-Row Toyota SUV Heritage
• Capstone Luxury Grade Leads Extensive Lineup of Full-Size SUVs
• Impressive 437 hp, 583 lb.-ft. of Torque
• Maximum Towing Capacity of up to 9,520 lbs.
• Assembled in the U.S. at Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas in San Antonio

Never Settle: Toyota Inspires Wonder in Latest Brand Campaign

Toyota believes that life is bigger when you seek out adventure, when you “go places”, when you never settle. But because driving can be an important part of all kinds of life events, those “places” can be so much more than a physical area. That’s the idea behind Toyota’s new brand campaign, “Never Settle.”

Launched Monday, Oct. 3, and slated to run through February 2023, the brand campaign celebrates special moments within the chapters of people’s driving lives. This cohesive marketing approach, which is inclusive of multicultural marketing and the total market model, delivers to the audience the qualities that make Toyota the brand it is today.

“We’ve created varying degrees of brand work in the past that helped build familiarity with Toyota”, says Lisa Materazzo, group vice president, Toyota Marketing, Toyota Motor North America. “But this is the first time we’ve created a campaign of this scale and type that is supported by dedicated work from all four of our advertising agencies.”

The commercial “A New World,” for example, tells the story of a couple heading home from the hospital after having a baby. The mother and baby are in the back seat of a Toyota Sienna while the father drives and takes in the busy world — full of opportunity — that surrounds them. The people featured in the spot are an actual family, not actors, so the story feels authentic to the campaign’s message.

A real family is featured in “A New World” developed by Saatchi & Saatchi for Toyota’s brand campaign.

Adventures Around Every Corner

While Toyota aims to encourage others to pursue their dreams — to “go places” — the campaign creative challenges people to think differently about the tagline. Sometimes, it’s about the physical destination and the journey.

“Not Yet” captures the determination and collective spirit that is taking this specific group farther and farther, illustrating how Latinos push forward and never give up on their goals. The social media portion of “Not Yet,” features a diverse group of influencers including Katya Echezarreta, a real-life engineer and the first Mexican-born woman to travel to space, who shares their inspiring stories of perseverance and determination with Latinos to encourage them to keep pushing forward because together they can go further.

“Not Yet,” created by Conill Advertising, illustrates how Latinos push forward and never give up on achieving their goals.

“Training Wheels” follows a young boy through his adolescence as he learns to ride a bike, swim and fly an airplane. Along the way, he is encouraged by other trailblazers in his community to be fearless and try new things. At the end, he’s seen earning an award of his own.

Toyota’s spot “Training Wheels” was developed by Burrell Communications for brand campaign.

“Most Toyota campaigns are vehicle-focused, highlighting individual vehicle attributes,” says Materazzo. “This brand campaign is designed to complement our vehicle-specific advertising through storytelling that represents our brand beliefs and identity.”

For example, the Toyota Highlander is featured in the opening scene of “Move to Your Own Beat,” but a young woman starting a new journey is the main focus of the spot. The woman is first seen in a lab coat, loading a box containing a stethoscope into the trunk of her car. Next, she’s in a dance studio learning traditional Indian dances, pushing forward despite injuring herself in practice. Finally, she’s performing in an elegant dance studio, not just in a solo performance, but with a group of thankful students seen dancing alongside her and recognizing her accomplishment.

Life in Moments

“Never Settle” isn’t Toyota’s first brand campaign, but it is the first of this scale and structure. The fully integrated T² campaign will extend across high-profile prime and sports TV programming, cinema, digital video, digital content and paid social.

A brand campaign helps remind people about the important qualities and values behind the Toyota brand. This is a broad-reaching campaign meant to reignite enthusiasm among current Toyota fans and use special moments to make a positive and meaningful connection with those who aren’t yet part of the Toyota family.

“These special moments are authentic, memorable, relatable, emotional, thrilling and unmistakably Toyota,” says Materazzo.