Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) is breaking new ground in marketing for its kitchy Scion xB, the Frigidaire on wheels. To focus narrowly on their target market of male trendsetters 18-35, (and perhaps to protect the brand from boomers) they are ignoring television and newspaper in favor of online marketing. The new campaign will run on web sites favored by the young and affluent and its own site, want2bsquare.com, as well as in movie trailers and enthusiast magazines.

The company has done well to date with a design that seemed intentionally designed to offend the conventional aesthetic. However, according to J.D. Power, only 43% of purchasers fit their target demographic, while 15% are boomers. A similar but larger and more upscale product from Honda, the Element, has seen the same trend: only 28% of Element owners are 35 or under.

While Toyota should be happy with the sales figures to date, they seem concerned that they might lose control of the brand. Advertising can only go so far in protecting a brand such as this, cultivated to represent youth, adventure, and individuality. If enough boomers, who also still want to think of themselves as young, adventurous, and unique, are seen behind the wheel, public perception will overwhelm marketing. The Scion brand will come to represent blue-hairs, killing its appeal to younger drivers.

Thus, the company is pinched between corporate desire to maintain a youthful brand and the dealer's incentive to sell every car possible to whoever has the money. Can Toyota succeed in keeping boomers from finding about (and desiring) the xB? I doubt it very much.