Toyota Australia and Saatchi & Saatchi Australia’s humour continues to demonstrate that you Don’t Send a Ute to Do a HiLux Job – this time with a muddy dance-off. The campaign turns the familiar off-road capability demo into an unexpected piece of entertainment, as a convoy of utes slips, slides and twirls its way down a muddy hillside.

The hero commercial, directed by Nick Kelly from MOFA and set to Mary Schneider’s yodelling rendition of The Blue Danube, follows a group of hopeful campers attempting to reach a coveted campsite at the top of a slippery summit. Only one group makes it to the top.

Vin Naidoo, chief marketing officer at Toyota Australia, stated, “For decades, Australians have trusted HiLux to get the job done in some of the toughest conditions imaginable. Mud Dance builds on that enduring Unbreakable spirit, following the success of ‘Don’t Send a Ute to Do a HiLux Job’ and bringing HiLux capability to life in a way that is unmistakably Toyota: confident, entertaining and grounded in a truth our customers already know.”

Mandie van der Merwe, chief creative officer at Saatchi & Saatchi Australia, added, “HiLux has one of Australia’s great advertising legacies, built by turning serious capability into populist entertainment. That legacy gives us both the permission and the responsibility to keep finding fresh, unexpected ways to demonstrate the quality, durability and reliability Australians have trusted for generations.

“Toyota understands that creativity is a genuine differentiator, and throwing a fleet of utes down a muddy hill to Mary Schneider’s yodelled rendition of ‘The Blue Danube’ is a wonderfully charming way to prove a serious product point. It’s bold, culturally distinctive and enormously entertaining.”

The campaign launched before the first bounce of the 2026 AFL Grand Final and will roll out nationally across television, OOH, digital and social.

Credits
Client:Toyota Motor Corporation Australia
Senior Manager, Marketing Operations: Anthony Nobile
Manager, Communications – Commercial & Brand: Kylie Graham
Senior Brand Specialists: Raffaele Laino & Brooke Butkiewicz
Brand Specialist: Isobel Kelly

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi Australia
Chief Creative Officers: Mandie van der Merwe & Avish Gordhan
Executive Creative Directors: James Cowie & Pierro Ruzzene
Creative Director: Carlo Mazzarella
National Director of Production: Michael Demosthenous
Senior Integrated Producer: Lauren Woods
Chief Client Officer: Ben Court
Executive Planning Director: Joe Heath
Group Business Director: Zoe Kypros
Senior Business Director: Melanie Bunn
Senior Business Manager: Aine Neenan
Business Manager: Noah Thompson

Media: Spark Foundry Australia

Production Company: MOFA
Director: Nick Kelly
Managing Director & Executive Producer: Llew Griffiths
Executive Producer: Claire Perkins
Producer: Stu Giles
DOP: James Brown
Production Design: Patrick Bennet
Pro Action Stunts, Stunt Co-ordination: Harry Dakanalis

Casting: Studio P Casting
Edit-Offline: ARC Edit
Editor: Jack Hutchings 
Offline Executive Producer: Winnie O’Neil
Post-Production: Blockhead VFX
Colourist: Matt Fezz
Squeak E. Clean: Sound
Executive Producer: Ceri Davies
Head of Sound: Paul Le Couteur
Music Supervision: Anton Trailer

Stills Production Company: Photoplay
Photographer: Michael Corridore
Producers: Anna Cuthill & Brendan Lee
Retouching: Prodigious

Where the campaign began: