You have to love how Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand and Sweetshop’s Damien Shatford have sneaked the obligatory torture test sequences into their new Toyota Hilux commercial and shown an entire range in a novel way. You have to love even more how they’ve made a film about absolutely nothing remarkable – just a bunch of people greeting each other on the road – absolutely remarkable. (Listen to the inane conversations and think about the madness of the scenario.)
The campaign celebrates the existence of community bonding and creates the existence of a Hilux community bond. It makes the Hilux integral to something lovely about our existence – especially as that something has been torn apart this year.
Damien Shatford directed the shoot on location in Queenstown with stills by Ross Brown. The full campaign is made up of 20 individual pieces of film and includes TV, social, digital, press, outdoor and a number of site-specific contextual iterations. The media approach was led by Starcom New Zealand.
Andrew Davis, Toyota New Zealand general manager of marketing, stated, “We are excited to present the all new Hilux to New Zealand with this integrated campaign. This is the most technologically advanced truck introduced in New Zealand and by far the best Hilux model we have ever launched. Hilux has always had a strong connection with Kiwis, so it’s great to be able to celebrate that bond through this new campaign and showcase all the different models and drivers that are part of the Hilux New Zealand story.”
Steve Cochran, chief creative officer, Saatchi & Saatchi NZ, added, “Hilux has long been a part of Kiwi culture and this campaign plays to that. I certainly consider myself privileged to have joined Saatchi & Saatchi just in time to work with the team on such a special Kiwi brand on such a significant campaign for my first project. It’s been as fun to make as we reckon it is to watch.”
The music that underpins the campaign was a collaboration between local New Zealand music legends, Troy Kingi and Tami Neilson, revisiting the classic Ghost Riders in the Sky. This marks a continuing connection between Hilux and Kingi, who has acted in the previous two Hilux campaigns.
Credits:
Client: Toyota NZ
Creative Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi NZ
Media Agency: Starcom
Production company: Sweetshop
Director: Damien Shatford
Executive Producers: Ben Dailey & Kate Roydhouse
Producer: Tony Whyman
DOP: Ben Seresin
Post & VFX: Stu Bedford
Audio: Shane Taipari @ Franklin Road
Music: Ghost Riders in the Sky, performed by Troy Kingi & Tami Neilson
Photography: Ross Brown @ Match
Retouching: Jason King @ SixtyFour
