The Aussie-est tale ever told (OK, alongside The Monkeys’ famed This is Footy Country for Telstra by Exit’s Mark Molloy) is actually a Kia Tasman Ute commercial. Innocean Australia has brought together Australian sporting legends – Alexander Volkanovski, Dylan Alcott and Lance Franklin – Buck the Brisbane Bronco’s mascot (playing a runaway horse), the rugged beauty of make-believe (but you’d never guess it) rural town, Tasman Town…and Scoundrel director, Ariel Martin…for 80-seconds of Aussie humour.

The campaign is a follow-up to the Kia’s Getting a Ute campaign that launched in March last year and leads again with entertainment (although this one has a lot of footage of Kia Ute’s showing what they can do in dusty country terrain).

Dean Norbiato, general manager of marketing at Kia, commented, “After strong consumer feedback on the first Tasman campaign, we wanted to continue to back brand and circumvent the category ruts when it comes to launching our most Australian product yet. Ariel and the creative team did a tremendous job striking a very Aussie tone of voice and concocting the perfect story arc to bring our sporting greats and the Kia Tasman together.”

Innocean creative directors, Nick Cole and Pat Allenby, added, “The campaign last year was a pretty big hit, so we naturally wanted to make something that felt like an evolution of that. Introducing Tasman Town, the magical place that’s populated by sporting legends who (of course) all drive Kia Tasmans. Getting a bunch of Aussie sporting stars, crew and horse to shoot on a rural location is no mean feat, so we were stoked with all the tireless work that went into making it happen.”

The film ties in with Kia’s ongoing sponsorship of the Brisbane Broncos and is supported by social media content. It launched Australia-wide during the opening game of the NRL season.