COROLLA THE CHOICE FOR COOL CATS
Mojo Sydney and Toyota will launched the new Corolla campaign this Sunday. It’s headlined by a 60 second SPOT for cinema along with a 45 for television, and a 15 to be launched in January, as well as outdoor and a completely re-created corolla site.
Based on the idea ‘Packed with a lil’ action’ the campaign tells the story of a kitten headed hero who battles a gang of feral baddies, and escapes in his Corolla. A departure from previous campaigns for Corolla, “Kittens” was created to connect to a younger audience and showcase a new edge for the brand.
Shot on location in an abandoned shopping mall on the outskirts of Melbourne by Garth Davis from Exit Films, the ambitious production was a combination of very well rehearsed fighting sequences, and real, cuddly kitten heads.
Says Davis: “This idea, this film, unapologetically celebrates that rich and wonderful world of the imagination… It’s not everyday you make a little film about kitten headed people. I love the innocence of kittens, in a playfully seedy world, and how we explored a new fighting style; a hybrid of kung fu and kitten. For me, this film ultimately reflects the easy going fun and adrenalin of Corolla… I love it, and am very excited about tickling people’s minds.”
“We just really wanted to make something a younger audience could be intrigued by, and sell a different side of Corolla, other than how practical it is,” says Micah Walker, Creative Director, Mojo Sydney.
“I think Garth has really managed to create a cinematic world around the story and make a spot we’re all really proud of. Big thanks to him, and everyone at Animal for their hard work, especially Colin, who looked battered by the end of it.”
The story continues online with ‘The Getaway’, an animated graphic novel. Here our hero kitten Max and his sidekick Misty make their way through an adventure in three parts; 9 Lives and Counting; Landing on all Fours; and, The Sound and the Furry. Car and specifications are also featured, integrated seamlessly into the story. Like a site for a film we’ve created a growing collection of downloadable media for people to enjoy.
Says Mojo digital CD Joel Thomson: “This idea felt perfect for an illustrated strip, we were confident the ad would drive lots of people online and we wanted to give them something just as cool there to get into and share. It certainly feels like a fresh move for a car site and perfect for Corolla.”
The campaign goes live this Sunday.
VIEW THE SPOT
Campaign title: Ninja Kittens
Toyota Motor Corporation Australia: Peter Webster, Scott Thompson, Carlie Hardey, Andrew Wearing, Tim Mottau
Agency: Mojo, Sydney
Creative Director: Micah Walker
Art Director: Michael Spirkovski
Copy Writer: Grant McAloon
Account service Team: Amanda Wheeler, Sara McConkey, Damien Pashby
Planner: Ian Cassidy
Agency Producer: Jasmin Ferguson
Production Company: Exit films
Director: Garth Davis
Producer: Karen Sproul
Digital Creative Director: Joel Thomson
Lead Creative: Clint Nielsen
Lead developer: Hugh Campbell
Digital Producer: Julia Prior
Post Prodcution: Animal Logic- Colin Renshaw
Music: Level Two Music – Karl Richter
Sound Mix: Nylon
103 Comments
Why cats? Why not ants? Dogs? Gazelles? Why cats? Are they an animal known to connect to a younger audience and showcase a new edge for a brand?
a little close?
http://www.urbanarmy.org/directorcriativo/design/harvey_nichols/catfight/pic02.jpg
http://www.urbanarmy.org/directorcriativo/design/harvey_nichols/catfight/pic01.jpg
WHAT !!
cat fight is based on an insight – this isn’t.
but the lack of relevancy to cats in this ad is why it’s interesting. thank you cadbury gorilla.
Animal heads… oh, how refreshing.
I instantly thought Harvey Nichs too.
Also, the post is pretty average. Often it feels like the heads are really detached.
Well done Garth looks brilliant! Website is genius, best thing I’ve seen for a car in this country.
Levi’s mice men by Gondry, seems some ideas don’t get better with age
Sorry, guys, but no. I think this is really lame. And why? WHY?
7
wtf?…..Corolla / Cats….???
Must have looked good on paper that’s all I can say
Mmm, just wondering if this could have been a wee bit better.
Noth’n is original in advertising. Weird but well done.
sorry, don’t get it.
closer … http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=OjvrLyjWMFc
Another animal head idea. Cool.
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=RHBo19AG2dw
Interesting, but it doesn’t feel right for Corolla. Seems just a little too far removed.
That really is the worst ad I have ever seen. Well done.
WTF? I feel embarrassed. The Harvey Nicks and Levis ads work because they have an idea and they’re very well executed. This is being weird just for the sake of it. And not that well executed. Wouldn’t a younger audience appreciate just a great idea instead?
typical blog comments. it’s better than work i’ve seen lauded on here, a lot better.
well done mojo.
I thought it was good, particularly for a car ad.
I like the swinging light… very cute.
Oh dear,this has used up all its nine lives in one go.
looks rushed. A good start that progressively falls apart. Average effects. The spot ends up try-hard rather than cool.
A definite stretch for the brand but it’ll work with the target. Fresh for the Australian market. Corolla needed to do something like this.
Interesting but not excellent.
action on a small scale. “Packed with a lil’ action”.
a small car. not that difficult to get.
Nothing catty to say – I liked it. Good fun!
By the way anthropomorphism (look it up) isn’t owned by Harvey Nichols or any other brand. While you’re on wikipedia, look up Bastet so you can see the first time people put a cat’s head on a human body.
Onya, Spirko & McLoon.
Fun stuff.
Hang on. Less than three months ago Corolla was the choice of scientists. Clever ideas. Or some shit.
Now it’s cats.
Are Mojo incapable of coming up with a big idea that’s interesting enough to run longer than 6 months?
With, dare I say, multiple executions?
The best campaign in the world, Bud Light, has been running over two centuries!
What the fuck are you guys doing to this brand?
Or are you serving yourself?
Nice website btw. Like the kill bill art direction.
Craps all over Subaru, Mazda 3 and Mitsubishi Lancer ads…cars driving along the road ads hmmm haven’t seen that before. Nice work Mojo…websites great! much more interesting than anything else out there, hard to beat actually.
I just feel this head replacement thing has been overdone.
http://www.buf.fr/MOVIES/2002.Commercial/Lewis.mpg
http://www.director-file.com/cunningham/aircraftbig.mov
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=1yCkj6a4FLo
uh, nizzie, that was Camry you’re referring to…this is a different car. Might get your facts straight before you let it rip on mojo.
The audience couldn’t give a crap if it’s been done before. This is a fun ad. They’ll love it. It shits all over zoom zoom. Why is it that Toyota is the only marketer that is willing to take a risk? Why can’t Ford and Holden get their head out of their arses? At least this engages people and has a bit of fun. I actually thought it should have been a 2 minute spot. I was over before it had begun.
12:56 – I think Nizzle’s point is that Corolla and Camry are essentially interchangleable generic products that give off the same vibe. Granny is still going to buy her corolla even if she doesn’t know what the phark a ninja kitten is; so seems like an expensive excercise
One of the best online executions ive seen in a long time. Beautifully Art Directed, engaging content, nicely integrated product features. Bloody brilliant work. Id love to see some other creative departments try to out do the online component.
the reason for cats is simple. there is a certain American CD at Mojo who is obsessed with kittens…..and dwarfs and heavily obese people and probably a few other things. I worked with him in another agency and he was constantly trying to muscle any or all of them into scripts
the endline also appears to have something of an American influence
I like the ad though, despite it’s didgy origins,
Toyota’s biggest problem is their image among 20 and 30 somethings who prefer subaru, mazda and honda. To sell Corolla to young women, they don’t need another 30 second montage of driving shots or 5 second shots of the dashboard. I think this ad adds some attitude to the brand and starts to encourage people to reappraise the brand. So Taylor, the fact that it doesn’t feel right for Corolla is probably good and positive feedback for the campaign.
So…good on them for trying. It’s different, memorable and it beats the crap out of the middle Australiana that Saatchi produce several times a year
8:01 am – “Fresh for the Australian market”
Has there ever been a more “damned with faint praise” comment ever on this blog.
The website’s ‘coming soon’ strategy for the second and third episodes is a big flaw. I’d doubt punters would be on the edge of their seats waiting for the next installment. The content is just not good enough. It’s rare you get people back even if the content is great. Why not just have all the content there from the beginning?
Please. This ad is a bit silly.
Ok. I like the way the ad looks. Every time i watch it i find something different in it i.e the little mice on the pool table, the Pussy Galore magazine one of the cats is reading etc. So well done Garth.
Conceptually it feels just way too try hard. Its trying to feel like an international ad with out the concept to back it. … and …. its been done better several times!!!
Steven.
Hmmm. Me sense a trend from Mojo.
Camry = Honda ‘Thought bubble’
Kluger = National Lampoon’s Vacation
Corolla = Levis
What’s next guys? Whatever happened to originality?
Toyota deserve better.
Dave.
I will humbly remove the foot from my mouth and eat shit etc. Very sorry.
Sorry. I thought they were both one and the same, and my comment wasn’t specifically directed at the campaign (which i kind of like, random enough, interesting enough).
My comment was based on a personal motive of frustration, for years, of both brands and agencies coming up with a million tiny campaigns / scampaigns with no underlying brand thought. (ie volvo – safe, mercedes – class, wonderbra – big etc etc).
Good brands are about building tribes. I’m a Nike man. You’re a Gucci woman. It’s a funny thing that as humans we can take a brand and make it our shield from the world. If I have enough money I can appear successful buy buying x brand or if I’m a trady I don’t want to look too successful at the expense of ridicule so I buy y brand. Brands have become the standards/flags we used to wear into battle and good brands provoke fights amongst friends. Mac/PC. etc.
(and if you’re interested check out this documentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLqAR7G7OfU fascinating. Really fascinating and will help you understand what we do – build tribes, build brands).
I’m frustrated for two reasons: one it costs more internally for creatives to have to come up with a new strategy every brief (instead of one big over riding strategy that even a receptionist can write an ad off). We all know those ideas. Rare, but fucking brilliant, but we are really lazy if we don’t think this way for everything we do.
Second reason is it damages brand recall with consumers which leads to a low ROI for our clients which is really, having lost clients before, bad for both of us.
I’m very sorry to get the two confused, but it is a common thread in the industry that I just jumped the bit at and now am humbly putting my tail between my legs.
Sorry guys :o)
Another thing I should ad, with humility and everything else.
If a senior creative with shares / options in a major agency and a very lucky career could not get the difference between camry and corolla…
what hope do we the public have.
and that is something that is everyone’s fault. brand / agency / director / everyone.
Hmmm.
RAV campaign “get outside” – Playstation ad “stay at home” both where a chef dirties peoples food
Yaris – VW campaign from UK
HIlux – The Gods must be crazy
Is that the better, you mean Dave, or just another trend?
M
When you don’t have a compelling idea and rely purely on weirdness and production, there is a clear line between ads that pull things off and those that don’t.
This doesn’t. It certainly hasn’t got an idea and the weirdness just isn’t weird enough to get you transfixed like the Gorilla ad.
Sales may still rise for the Corolla, though.
There may be a few investment bankers looking to cash out of their BMWs.
I have an idea……..maybe people that post on a beautiful Sunday afternoon are people that don’t have a grip on normal Australian life.
And therefore maybe more nerd than person (read: planner) . That’s a bit unfair, planners that wear ironic t-shirts and caps to hide thinning hair are the cutting edge.
Like, with a butter knife.
There’s an ad for tuna at the moment that stars a guy with a cat head. It’s shit but it’s another one.
To the other Daves.
The ones giving Micah shit for having a sense of humour. The ones dumping on Mojo for trying to have fun.
I would like to excommunicate myself from you
You seem to be Daves of the boring variety. The reason our name has moved down the rankings from the most popular in the world to about number 23.
Dave Smith
Hey M (2:34),
please explain more. post some links.
M,
the Gods must be crazy? ha, boy are you struggling.
I think we need to step back and appreciate just how hard it is to get anything half decent out in Oz these days. Maybe the telly won’t worry a Cannes jury but as others have said, it’s better than most of the other stuff that’s come out this year, which isn’t a reflection of a lack of talent here but I believe indicative of what a tiny, conservative market we’re all working in. It’s hard going out there and we all can’t be working on multi-million pound Sony briefs. We’ve been localising global spots most of the year so hats off to Mojo, Saatchis, Toyota and anyone else out there who are signing work off, making ads (whether we like them or not) and giving us all something to talk about.
PS. That site’s cool. Well done.
Toyota deserves better.
RAV campaign “get outside” – Playstation ad “stay at home” both where a chef dirties peoples food
Yaris – VW campaign from UK
HIlux – The Gods must be crazy
Camry = Honda ‘Thought bubble’
Kluger = National Lampoon’s Vacation
Corolla = Levis.
I think you need to get rid of all those juniors and hire a few grown ups. Apart from the question of originally, they don’t understand how to write ads that sell.
Or are trying to lose the Toyota and Coke accounts
It’s nicely shot but the product feels really tacked on, says nothing to me about the car. When you hold it up to the UK stuff ” a car you can be proud of” it doesn’t stack up. And that’s nothing to do with the client, if they’ll buy cats fighting they seem open to creative work.
What a piece of boring crap. Reminds me of what i like about cats not the Corolla. and where’s the jump? The least they could do would be to make the kittens jump and meow the theme song
Cascade beer anyone?
That’s a terrible suggestion Benny, I hope your not a creative.
Sorry, but what the fuck? Could an ad get any more random and irrelevant?
Exactly what Corolla needed – some fun and a bit of attitude to shake the brand up and get the youngsters to take a look. Much better than the wallpaper all the other brands are throwing out. Noice.
I think the spot’s ok enough. Does the job.
Connection for anyone that missed it – fast car, good handling and has an ipod which you can use to turn on your getaway music when you’re busting moves at the fish markets.
Simple enough.
i think it’s super totally awesome
http://www.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog/?em3106=212854_-1__0_~0_-1_11_2008_0_0&em3281=&em3161=
This is exactly why ads like the gorilla and this one sucks. They have nothing to do with the brand and people too afraid to appear less cool in front of their english or american CD go one pretending they liked it.
This Ad feels like it was made by hipsters. fringe wearing “oh I’m so cool that I don’t even need a concept, see you at china heights” type of creatives.
You all make me sick, I wish I could destroy you with my laser vision.
Bob
I really like it.
Like it in much the same way I liked music videos from about seven years ago, which this reminds me a lot of. Remember before CG animal heads, every second clip had an odd little kid wearing a $2 animal mask staring at camera, mimicking art in much the same way as this. Well, I put this in the same little ‘let’s pretend to be artists’ box, because that’s what it is. It’s pretending to be cool. Pretending to be a little artier than it actually is, or needs to be.
Will this sell? Who cares. Let’s be honest, none of us do care when we think we’ve got a hot one.
Will Mojo keep the Toyota business? Probably not, because this ad wont sell much.
But I like it.
Was actually Ford that did that Scientist sh1t, not Camry.
It’s OK, an improvement on “Hottest Corolla ever”. Give them a break.
What a nasty bunch some of you are.
As with most comments left on this blog, its highly amusing that everyone pisses on everyone elses work because they didn’t do it themselves.
Jealousy is a curse.
if all the negative people commenting were doing better work than this, it’d be a better industry. the website is very, very good as well. well done.
trust me, no one’s jealous of this ad. it’s confusing as all get out. i’ve seen real consumers watch it and go ‘WTF?’
I just bashed out an awesome metrolite for st.george.
killing it.
Bob the builder. Cadbury Gorilla doesn’t suck. It has a gold lion and over 6 million hits on you tube. I was in Europe last year, every time I mentioned I was advertising people brought this ad up. It is beautifully directed and based on the neurological fact that chocolate makes you feel happy. Eating Chocolate actually has an effect on your brain chemistry similar to falling in love. But that shit doesn’t matter to punters anyway.
People adore that spot.
People can adore stuff in a shortened format that would be too weird for them as a TV program.
This is the best thing about doing TV ads.
This ad is not Gorilla and your argument equating the two is simplistic to point of stupidity and stinks of insecurity.
tsk tsk tsk
Poor little jane got a bit upset. Whats the matter did ya drop your hair straightener?
Everyone’s got their own opinion but in my mind a gorilla playing the drums has nothing to do with the joy of chocolate. Personally for me the joy of chocolate is better represented with a snowboarding hyena.
God only knows why the ad did so well . I dunno why did George bush win the second time? Why did Australia lose the Rugby world cup. Luckily I’m secure enough to recognize bull#$% when I see it and step over it rather than eating it.
This ad has people with cat heads. Why Cats? If you can’t answer that in relation to what was put on the brief then go back to AWARD School. There’s no room for more irrelevant ads in advertising. Clients like Toyota who are happy to pay for good work deserve better. And just a small piece of advice Janey. You should really be careful when throwing words around like stupidity and insecurity in here, you never know who you’re talking to.
This ad is not bad. But must admit, not a big fan of the gorilla ad either as it makes no sense.
I can see your train of thought “People get happy when they eat chocolate. Therefore – I know! A Gorilla playing the drums! How funny would that be!?. The answer is: not very funny.
I think they’re completely different ideas. and i really like the website for this, so there you go. No point in arguing.
Whats with Davis calling this a “little film” ? … perrrlease, it’s an AD for christsake.
The Big Lebowski is a film … this aint !
Sooooo sick of hearing ads being called “films”, the ad game needs to get a grip and call a spade a spade … film my arse.
there are no negative people in adland.
only real people.
fuck if we hated ads half as much as the public did we’d be popping out so many worse insults than this.
grow some namby pamby and stop being such a pussy. pun.
bad pun.
Packed with a lil action. A car with lots of features, rather than one big one to hang it’s hat on. Lil kitten heads, it’s not that hard,
More people got it in research than on this board.
So six people in research got it. Must be a great ad then.
Bob the Builder, your rebuttal at 5:50 was excellent. Well argued and well written, unlike most of the childish, illiterate pap that passes for discussion on this blog.
Two points I’d like to make:
1. This is another example of the Emperor’s new advertising. Fearing ridicule, all the cool cats (read under 25’s) acclaim this nonsense as a work of fresh genius it ain’t. The fucker is naked.
2. Am I the only one to notice that the work that comes out of Mojo seems to be equally divided into the very good and the downright awful?
Love, Ex-Saatchis, Ex-Palace Sad Old Fuck.
Um. it’s not cool. it’s an ad.
No one out there give a fuck.
If you actually trawl the net looking for blog posts on the campaign, it seems that the consumer loves it.
Isnt that the point after all?
OMG – listen to you all!! why the hell would anyone want to work in advertising with such respect for each other?
love the music btw. well done mojo, i like it. love the site – the illustration & animation is world class.
Sorry Jane, but I’m 100% with Bob the builder on this one.
Hey Lynchy,
What’s the record amount of comments?
Kim.
Ad’s cool, LOVE the website, I heard a Melbourne crew did it?
Nov 11 at 10.33pm
Dear Anonymous,
I’ve just finished a little ‘book’, which is all about a credit card, and the terms and conditions it has to live under.
Launches in a couple of weeks. Love to see you at the opening.
xx
2:53 – I heard it was both Sydney and Melbourne.
See, they can get along afterall
November 12, 2008 10:40 AM
Ever heard of SMO (Social Media Optimisation)?
It’s like the coke zero blog scam all over again. No, not columbian, the other coke.
Sure as hell it ain’t my coke.
Columbian
Sydney client, Sydney creative.
Nobody cares about a drug dealer’s opinion. Loser.
Wow, that floor crack is seriously familiar.
A bit of originality wouldnt have gone astray, Clint.
Fantastic. Love it.
Great targeting and understanding of the audience.
Rather than treating the audience as insecure want to bes (A reflection of who?) and trying to demonstrate how this car will make you more complete, more attractive etc…
Great positioning
Function becomes cool without coming across as try hard. Perfect for the times.
Great tone
Doesn’t spell everything out like most simpleton car ads – which you in turn immediately forget.
A brave ad that ticks all the boxes.
Creatives that dont like this ad should get out of their protected little bubbles and go and shoot themselves in the foot. Oh they already have.
Hey Planner, you must have seriously pissed the bed to get to the office in time to post your lightweight comments by 7:50am.
Oh lovely – an eloquent heavyweight.
I want to hang shit on it but can’t think of any thing to say.
Um, I’m not in advertising, hell, I don’t want a corolla either. But I could swear I heard you guys ring up triple M this moring when they went “phone surfing”. Come on, which one of you is “Dale” from Narre Warren? He had some really strong opinions about shit that didn’t matter as well. Awesome. This blog any good for picking up?
Why cats? especially when there’s already a cat head man ad out there currently?
Do “young people” gravitate to cats, i don’t understand.
Luv Andy.
An ad came on last night with the opening shot featuring a person with a cat’s head. “Oh, good”, I thought, “this’ll be one of those Corolla ads. Let’s see how it goes in the real world.”
Unfortunately it was an ad for Safcol tuna.
It helps to view this (and Cadbury Gorilla) when stoned.
Cool for Cats… genius
Key benefit for the Corolla is that it reverses out of car parks fast and can do a handbrake turn while be chased by actors wearing cat heads.
Brilliant.
Key benefit of the ad has been 98 blog posts after almost 2 weeks.
Genius
Is 7.50 on crack?
I’m not advertising, but i do like cars, toyota ads are pretty boring. Especially any kind of “australian” car ad. Like holden, everything from their boring bland past, to those wanky ute ads with a acdc blaring. Or some hick family standing around trying to make you feel un-australian for not buying into our motoring legacy. “times are tough, australians are tougher” WTF? Holden are trying to guilt trip me into buying a POS car? Personally, whoever handles their account should be hung, drawn and quartered.
What about the BMW films? Clive owen!! They were cool as, cause the car is cool, almost a bond element to it.
You couldn’t use a BMW style ad to sell a rolla, not as suave as a big silver coupe smoking around a corner, baddies on your tail.
However the idea of a lightweight front-wheel-drive car pulling handbrakies and j-turns in black like a little ninja does work.
Cats makes perfect sense, next time your walking past a petshop look at the kittens, when they playfight, quick, small, fun. Everybody smiles, corolla is probably trying to push a “cute” car angle in there aswell. Heck the ad made me laugh. If they do a follow up ad with the corolla ducking around avoiding ninja cats on motorcycles it would be sweet.
Besides, most people turn the volume down or mute it when ads come on and rarely pay attention. Something quirky will make em look, and look out for it again.
Not every consumer looks up ads on youtube, and a quick bit sized morsel of internet weirdness after the news is great.
There are way, way worse ads out there. Rivers anyone? Odd shit music and bland presentation. They are really annoying. Anything from macdonalds. those trite fricking coke ads, or anything from holden. they swing from bogans to battlers so often it makes me grind my teeth.
So alittle weird in the day is good, makes you smile, even if it is just over the cats watching a lightbulb. Or a gorilla playing the drums. C’mon, most drummers are gorilla’s ^-^
Smile people, no one likes the “weened on a pickle” look.
If Corrolla’s are for pussies(apparently so), does that mean the next TRD aurion ad would be a dog licking its balls if the same agency wins the work?
i think i have given you guys a great concept for your next campaign. and im pritty sure it actually has NOT been done any where else in the world.
And for the CD’s and AD’s out there who say “nothing is original” please stay on the print side of the fence.
Toyota’s cashing in on the power of cuteness