Grad Student Raps His Way to Winning a 2012 Toyota Corolla

TORRANCE, Calif., June 28, 2012 It may have been old school rap, but Stanford University student Samuel Arnett's video promoting Toyota Financial Services' (TFS) College Grad Rebate program won him a brand new 2012 Toyota Corolla S.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120628/LA32900)

From April 3, 2012 through May 8, 2012, eligible recent college grads and graduate students were invited to submit videos (60 seconds or less) featuring their best idea to promote TFS' College Rebate program (www.toyotagradcontest.com.)  The public was invited to vote daily on their favorite videos, after which, videos were evaluated by an independent panel of Judges who selected the top ten (10) Finalists.

Second place winner, Keaton Davis a spring grad from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, won $2,500 for his entry, "Pay it Forward" and third place winner, Karli Johnson a recent grad from Northern Illinois University  won $500 for her entry, "What a college grad can do with $1,000!"

To encourage public voting, registered voters were eligible to win one of 200 "Instant Win" $20 gift cards redeemable at Amazon.com.  After the final voting ended, all registered voters were put into a random sweepstakes drawing for one prize of $1,000.

Arnett, an East Asian Studies graduate student at Stanford University created the video with help from his brother. While the two live on opposite coasts and had to shoot their pieces separately, they collaborated on the music, videography and editing via Skype.

"We decided to do the rap because we thought it would be a quick way to showcase our voices, present a lot of information about the rebate, and because the delivery would be dynamic versus simply talking to the camera," says Samuel Arnett. "We grew up in that era when rap was popular and we figured we were OK with looking a little silly to get the word out."

Arnett says he and his wife do not currently have a car, but will be relocating to Monterey, California soon, so the Corolla comes at a perfect time as he will be able to more easily commute to his final class this fall.

Arnett says he reached out to his family and friends to keep voting. "Facebook really came in handy to reach out to all of those old high school and college friends.  I was asking them to vote every day.  All in all everyone was really excited for me and hoping that I would get the car, and I'm really thankful for their support."

The College Grad Video Contest follows the recent announcement that TFS is extending its College Grad Rebate program through January 2, 2013, which offers recent college grads (and those about to graduate) $1,000 off the purchase or lease of select new Toyota vehicles including the Corolla, Matrix, RAV4, Camry (excludes Camry hybrid), Tacoma and Yaris, plus all new Scion models, when financed or leased through a participating Toyota dealer and TFS.

About Toyota Financial Services
TFS is the finance and insurance brand for Toyota in the United States, offering retail auto financing and leasing through Toyota Motor Credit Corporation (TMCC) and Toyota Lease Trust and extended service contracts through Toyota Motor Insurance Services (TMIS).  Lexus Financial Services is the brand for financial products for Lexus dealers and customers. TFS currently employs over 3,300 associates nationwide, and has managed assets totaling $89 billion.  It is part of a worldwide network of comprehensive financial services offered by Toyota Financial Services Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation.  For more information, please visit www.toyotafinancial.com.

For more information about the College Graduate Rebate Program, visit www.toyotafinancial.com/collegerebate and www.scion.com/college.

To watch the ten finalist videos and to learn more about the contest, please visit www.toyotagradcontest.com.

SOURCE Toyota Financial Services