Toyota launches poetic ‘Call of the Wild’ in its latest Hilux campaign via Saatchi & Saatchi NZ
Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand has unveiled the latest Toyota Hilux campaign featuring a cast of passionate, poetic animals, as they are transported on an all-new Hilux.
The spot will premiere on Toyota’s social media channels today and will launch officially with a full page ad in the Sunday Star Times, directing people to watch the full 90″ film at 7.30pm this Sunday on TVNZ.
Says Corey Chalmers, joint ECD: “Toyota has a long and rich history of creating iconic advertising around its much loved ‘ute’. From the days of Scottie and Crumpy, to the controversial but adored ‘Bugger’ commercials, to more recent campaigns featuring talking Bulls and sidecar-riding monkeys. Being given the opportunity to create the next chapter for Hilux is a real privilege and a huge honour.”
Says Guy Roberts, joint ECD: “Creating this campaign for Hilux has been an incredible labour of love, delivered by an amazing team. We hope that people enjoy it and it sells the heck out of this bloody great new ute.”
Hilux is the work-horse of heartland New Zealand and has set the benchmark for light trucks since its launch in 1976.
Says Andrew Davis, general manager marketing, Toyota: “This ute continues this legacy and also delivers on the increasing urban appetite for utes and Kiwi’s love of the great outdoors, so it was important that the latest campaign spoke to this emerging group of city dwellers. We presented Saatchi & Saatchi with a significant challenge in continuing the Hilux story, and we are excited with the final result which resets the benchmark and befits the legacy of Hilux.”
The TV campaign was directed by leading New Zealand director, Adam Stevens from Robbers Dog. The epic film was shot on location in the Reece valley in the Southern Alps amongst other New Zealand landscapes.
Each of the animal characters including ducks, fish, deer, possums and whitebait are all CGI creations, brought to life through animation and visual effects by Alt.vfx.
The new campaign also introduces a fresh brand positioning for Hilux which will appear across all elements of the advertising – The All New Hilux. The Benchmark. Rebuilt.
Last week, Toyota released a series of outtakes, ahead of the campaign launch.
Read the full Ode:
ODE to the Hilux
OH JOY! To be upon the new Hilux, transported.
We’ll not be hunted – but happily courted!
Inspired by you to wax lyric in sonnet,
mounted up proudly on your mighty steel bonnet!
From river to forest and fiord upon trail,
Your sweet engine purrs, refusing to fail.
Catching our eyes, foul hooked and kissed –
carry us with pride to the local taxidermist!
And even if you make a fair decent mess of us,
We’ll embrace our destiny – flattened without fuss!
Hunters, grunters and punters rejoice!
All the wildebeests and Sunday feasts yell out CHOICE!
Unbreakable in spirit, leaving other trucks bitter
It’s an honour to be transported into a piping hot fritter!
To the truck for good buggers, gear luggers and ditch diggers,
the big boat tuggers, lovers of rugger, and wild piggers!
The benchmark is back! Rebuilt to be a winner!
Raise a glass to the legend – while you have us for dinner!
It’s an honour to lie in the tray of your booty,
Hilux, you put the “ute” in “you bee-ute-y!”
Client: Toyota New Zealand Limited
Alistair Davis – Chief Executive Officer
Andrew Davis – General Manager UV & Marketing, Executive
Susanne Hardy – Assistant Manager Marketing
Creative Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
Nicky Bell – CEO
Guy Roberts – ECD
Corey Chalmers – ECD
Paul Wilson – General Manager
Susie Darling – Business Director
Murray Streets – Director of Strategy
Amanda Brittain – Senior Account Manager
Executive Producer – Jane Oak
Anna Kennedy – Senior Producer
Rob Flynn – Designer
Ross Davies – Designer
Tomas Cottle – Illustrator
Production Company: Robber’s Dog
Director: Adam Stevens
Executive Producer: Mark Foster
Managing Director: George Mackenzie
Producer: Helen Hendry.
DOP: Shelley Farthing-Dawe
Editor: Stewart Reeves (Rock Paper Scissors)
Visual Effects: Alt.vfx
VFX Supervisor: Colin Renshaw
Executive Producer: Kate Stenhouse
Sound design: The Coopers
Composition: Elliot Wheeler @ Turning Studios
Photographer: Ross Brown @ Match Photography
Retoucher: Andy Salisbury
19 Comments
There’s a lot to like about this spot. Really fresh work, and spot on for a Kiwi audience.
Nice to see a beauty of a spot from S&S. Maybe there is life yet down there after their recent loss of Spark and DB and CCA.
Nice one guys. Great stuff. And hats off to Atl Vfx proving they’re world class again.
Cecil the Lion gives it two paws up.
High five-ing this (with a paw).
nicely done…
If you can’t write a script write a poem
Right now, a hipster digital twat is in a client boardroom mouthing off about a highly targeted data driven campaign that the metrics say should effectively reach a wide demographic.
Then the client says, ‘Did you see the new Hi-Lux ad, we should do something like that!’
The hipster digital guy looks at his canvas shoes and cries.
Nice one Saatchi!
Niiiiiiiiiice
I write car ads. I also fancy myself as a bit of a lyricist. And by golly I wish I’d written this. Great work, guys.
Love it, YouTubers aren’t tho.
Don’t worry just throw money at it!
Every Hilux owner I’ve ever known was right into poetry!
Where’s the humanity, the connection to the people?
Very un-charming.
A good “film” has an endearing or engaging character/s. This “film” lacks this.
The only thing I’d like to see killed off are f’ing odes. They’re shit, like this ad.
I can only assume this is targeted at the very small demographic of people who like running over possums and bad poetry.
People like me who hunt and fish actually respect the animals we kill. The idea that they are happy to be killed as long as they get a ride on the ute is bizarre. I guess it might appeal to some munters with no empathy, but i expect those people are few and far between.
I watched it in a cinema of people last night in a major NZ city, after the ad you could hear the audience saying “what the f*** did i just watch” and “what is this Bullsh**”
Well done Saatchi’s, another ad geared at a group of people your latte drinking crowd wouldn’t know from from a bar of soap.
Just heard the client killed the ad, mounted it on top of an old Hi-lux and drove it off a cliff.
Personally, I was more offended by the crappy poetry… that was enough to have the TVC pulled.