When your pickup is famous for surviving polar expeditions and Top Gear demolition tests, you don’t need another ad boasting about how tough it is. The Toyota Hilux, Europe’s most indestructible pickup, has a sense of humour that it’s using instead to show off its tough road capabilities – giving the pickup advertising clichés a refresh.

The new campaign, Please Hilux Responsibly, springs from the Hilux’ reputation for conquering the impossible and surviving the unthinkable. T&P has added the note that just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

The pan-European tongue-in-cheek “public service announcement” was directed by Martin Werner via Papaya Films, running as a cinema commercial and eight 15-second social films, targeting B2B, retail, and lifestyle audiences, as the car is relaunched in hybrid and all-electric forms.

The campaign focusses on overly confident Hilux drivers whose sense of complete invincibility prompts them to push their tough trucks to the absolute limit in extreme situations and is inspired by the real-world behaviour of online audiences.

“Like many online have realised – just because going for a picnic on the edge of a mountain snowstorm, wading through crocodile infested waters or turning your loading bed into a hot tub is possible with a Hilux, it doesn’t necessarily mean you should do it,” stated Jim Stump, group creative director at T&P.

The campaign focusses on overly confident Hilux drivers whose sense of complete invincibility prompts them to push their tough trucks to the absolute limit in extreme situations and is inspired by the real-world behaviour of online audiences.

The campaign continues with a follow-up film directed by Kit Lynch-Robinson in which a Toyota lawyer attempt to read Hilux Terms & Conditions while sat next to Toyota Gazoo Racing driver, Seth Quintero, as he pushes the all-new GR DKR Hilux to the extreme.

Andreas Lefteris & Élson Rodriguez, the senior creative team behind the campaign, commented, “In a category where every brand is trying to prove how tough they are, the Hilux has nothing left to prove. So, as the world’s toughest pickup, we flipped the category on its head. Instead of boasting, we’re doing the exact opposite – begging our drivers to show some restraint.”

Marine Martirosyan from Toyota added, “After much anticipation, the opportunity to introduce a new generation is extremely exciting – especially for a legend like the Hilux. Hoe do you elevate the ultimate workhorse while honouring its passionate community? It was an incredibly ambitious project, but we’ve captured the true, untameable soul of the Hilux.”

Credits Main Campaign:
Client: Toyota Motor Europe (TME)
Vice President Product Strategy and Marketing: Andrea Carlucci
Lead Client: Olga Sondar, Head of Toyota Brand Strategy and Marketing Communications
Senior Client: Marine Martirosyan, Manager Toyota Brand Strategy and Marketing
Senior Campaign Manager: Annegrethe Nielsen

Creative & Media Agency: T&P
CCO: André Moreira
Executive Creative Director: Micky Tudor
Group Creative Director: Jim Stump
Creative Director: Phill Fields
Senior Creatives: Andreas Lefteris & Élson Rodrigues
Creative & Art Direction: Rosie Sheppard
Designers: Mitch Baitey, Ade Walker, Tim Taylor, Richard Palmer
Planning Directors: Matt Linstead, Daivid Corrado, Neil Goodlad
Audience Strategy Director: Laura Weston
Creative Strategy: Daryl Frost
Global Client Lead: Kate Mottram
Client Lead: Gavin Fullick
Business Director: Stephanie King
Senior Project Management: Jane Egan
CRM Team: Chris Walker, Helena Clark, Julius Lloyd, Niki Mehta, Emily Wood, Rhys Chapman
Chief Production Officer TME & LED WPP Production: Charles Crisp
Head of Integrated Production WPP Production: Anna Green
Senior Producer WPP Production: Michał Krajewski

Production Company: Papaya Films
Director: Martin Werner
DoP: Óttar Guðnason
Managing Director International: Iwona Mnich
Executive Producer: Wojtek Skiba
Producer: Marta Spychalska

Service Production Company: Juice Film

Editing: Whitehouse Post
Editors: Sam Gunn, Thomas Sheriff

Post Production VFX & Colour: BaconX & Orka Film
Photographer: Tomek Mąkolski

Audio Post Production: Ztudio&Burza
Music Supervision: Wake The Town

Credits Extreme T&Cs:
Production Company: WPP Production
Director: Kit Lynch-Robinson
DoP: Mik Allen

Service Production Company: Central Films Dubai
Post Production VFX, Colour & Sound: Coloroffon Warsaw