Toyota Camry pitches to the true ‘Executives of Life’ in new campaign via Saatchi & Saatchi
Known for its reliability, Toyota Camry has always been the rational, sensible choice in the sedan car market. But it’s struggled to win the hearts of customers.
Saatchi’s Executive Creative Director Antonio Navas says “Over 80 percent of customers that are looking for a medium sized car are fleet or business customers. For these people getting the work/life balance right is hard. So the idea of a movement to inspire Camry drivers to become the true Executives of Life was born.”
The idea has been phased to attract, engage, educate and then deliver genuine leads to the dealers. TV, press and digital banners invite people to view an interactive web film on Toyota’s You Tube page that dramatises the challenge of work/life balance. At all points viewers can explore the vehicles rational benefits and take the next step to test drive or contact a dealer.
Toyota New Zealand General Manager of Marketing, Neeraj Lala suggests that the time was right for something a little different: “We’re moving to a new approach that sees us in multi-dimensional conversations with our customers. The easy road would be to follow the traditional auto marketing approach. The Camry was built with a lot of feedback from customers, and it was only appropriate for marketing to follow suit. What does remain consistent is the emotional connection that the Toyota brand has with New Zealanders.
“And when it came to the marketing for the range, Saatchi & Saatchi identified an emotive insight that continued this customer focus and an idea that unlocks a conversation.”
Executive Creative Director: Antonio Navas
Creative Group Heads: Anne Boothroyd, Adam Thompson,
Digital Creative Group Head: Mac Macaskill
Head of TV: Jane Oak
Producer: Marty Collins
Designer: Sam Stadwick
Planning Director: Murray Streets
Group Account Director: Mark Cochrane
Account Director: Luke Farmer
Senior Account manager: Emma Guadagni
Account Executive: Hannah Nathan
Production Company: Flying Fish
Director: James Salomon
Producer: Angela da Silva
Post Production: Fish digital
Editor: Nathan Pickles
Audio Post Production: Liquid Studios
Music Composition: Peter Van Der Fluit
Photographer: Stephen Langdon
Retouching: Kevin Hyde
Stills producer: Loren Bradley
Digital Producer: Charlotte Whiter
Executive Digital Producer: Haydn Thomsen
Digital Design: Alex Waskiewicz, David Hunter
Digital Developer: Matt Skinner, Mike McMillan, Steven Ashby
Development Partner: Salted Herring
Media: Starcom
23 Comments
I think I know this from somewhere.
PUMOTA.
Not exactly the kind of thing that would enthrall the sad boring traveling salesman in the horrible situation of this possibly being their company car.
Bit of a stretch to call the web film ‘interactive’. You can pause the film and a page of pee-boring brochure comes up. I doubt if anyone does it twice.
Always brave to write a poem as a voiceover. Can hit the mark. Can sound awfully pretentious. This one is somewhere in the middle.
There’s going to be an awkward moment when the Droga boys turn up for their first day…
Maybe they can distract them by showing them that Telecom clip of the 2 suns via webcam, or that House of Travel clip with the guy travelling around the world growing a beard…
A lazy voice over and a sloppy montage.
Saatchis does this formula all the time now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mixEIwRL-2k
But, isn’t this just like the Puma TV ad from Droga that won at Cannes last year?
Monotone V/O + wobbly observational camera work + fashionable grading + end wrap up V/O that explains the idea. Except it’s 30 seconds longer than the Puma original.
Embarrassing.
I’m sorry but appealing to NZers sense of favouritism to this vehicle via a montage of warm fuzzies doesn’t cut it.
The list of production cliches is immense. I’ll have a go:
1. quirky going-nowhere soundtrack
2. overly diffused, out of focus shots
3. hand written font used by McDonalds, BNZ and everyone else trying to imbue their comms with a ‘human’ quality
4. hand-held camera
5. Multiple story lines of everyday people (Crash movie)
6. children jumping into swimming pools
Other notable shots that reminded me of recent campaigns – can anyone recall where they are from?
C/U of sparkler 10 secs
C/U face masks 33 secs
Seriously – get rid of the pretentiousness of it all and that horribly written V/O.
Proposition ‘Executives of Life’ is nice and single minded. Execution is anything but. Voiceover is soooooooooooo 1980’s. Me thinks the planners did a good job on this. Then the creatives came and let it down.
Voice over sounds like a demo….
turn into T.V.C
I love really good poetry.
Oh dear. What are Toyota thinking?
Wow, that print execution really rocks! Award winning material for sure. NOT.
Pretentious. Painful. Good concept wasted by poor execution.
Awful, just really, really awful.
Fence Sitter please enlgihten me in which way is ‘Executives of Life’ a nice, single-minded idea?
How many of us here on the blog are Camry customers? Probably none.
It’s not a cool car, or one that you aspire to owning.
But, for those that do think a Camry is a good choice, I reckon this will work well. Not because it’s a killer idea or an amazing execution. It just feels right. If that was the intention, I think it came off well.
Toyota have made amassing ideas that have sold shit loads of cars for years and years. They felt right but were memorable, funny and charming.
So go Reality check yourself.
Assuming this ad does indeed work on the target market – are you suggesting that is an excuse to not actually bothering with original creative?
If this agency is just trawling youtube (and other ads) for ideas and executions, what “creative” are they charging for?
But, I think Mr Reality Check needs a reality check, or perhaps go to work at McCaans where you can do ‘Ideas that sell’, but little else – other that resizes for L’Oreal.
Put this ad against any other the previous work for Toyota (starting three years’ back), and it would pale into comparison. There is no idea – ok, there is an idea in the tagline, but that’s a strategy line, not an idea, it’s a starting point.
Furthermore, the Puma comparison is sickening, I hope Toyota doesn’t get charged a concept fee for this prime example of advertising piracy.
The local Droga operation must be licking their fingers in preparation for an assault on this client.
Toyota bought this ad so they’re hardly likely to put the business up for pitch now, are they? And who knows, maybe they had a big hand in the writing of the VO? Stranger things have happened.
This ad might one of the most nauseating piles of stinky cheese ever served to the viewing public, but let’s be real. There’s not going to be a pitch, because of it.
By the way, here’s a quick grammar lesson for ‘I’d had to be negative’…
1. I hate to be negative – not I’d. I would hate to be negative doesn’t make any sense, without qualification ie I would hate to be negative, because it would make me seem rude.
2. ‘Pale into comparison’. Actually it would pale into insignificance, or be pale by comparison.
Third form English. You people really do need to read more.
Hey Dumbass,
You’re clearly an idiot. ‘For executives of life’ is single-mined proposition. Just take that line to the shitter and the first idea you come up with will prove it. Just not the tripe S&S have come up with.