Toyota Australia goes to Cape Town to shoot latest RAV4 spot via Saatchi & Saaatchi, Sydney
May 19 2013, 11:46 pm | | 57 Comments
Toyota Australia has put to air a new spot for the all-new RAV4 via Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney.
The spot was shot in and around Cape Town, directed by Kevin Fitzgerald via South African production company Egg Films.
It was created by CD Steve Carlin together with Saatchi Sydney’s South African expats, ECD Damon Stapleton, writer Stuart Turner and art director Darren Borrino.
57 Comments
Shot in South Africa? Lions, elephants, RAV4 adventure? No, just beaches and gum trees. Brilliant. Genius. Best use of a client budget for a holiday in years.
Before I watched: wow, a new Toyota TVC shot in South Africa. Maybe the lads finally got a good one through!
After I watched: oh.
It doesn’t get much worse than this.
Beaches.. roads.. children.. dogs.. no WAY you could have shot that here in oz.
Oh and maybe its legal in South Africa but here in Australia .. “A person must not travel with any part of their body outside a window or door of the vehicle, unless the person is the driver and is giving a hand signal for changing direction, stopping or slowing”
of being extremely underwhelmed
Thanks heaps Saatchi & Saatchi and Toyota for your overwhelming support for the local Australian film industry.
Oh dear.
And what the hang is that music?
eish!
And Saatchi’s were starting to show some promise
kid you not, when it came on I thought it was one of those crap ads you get before you watch vid – i was looking for ‘skip ad’ but then realised it was in fact the ad. Wow.
this is embarrassing.
I thought these scams went out inthe 80’s.
Is it just me that feels Saatchi has lost its creative way?
just why?
I suspect it was substantially cheaper than shooting in Australia.
Just a shame it is so poorly written and equally poorly executed.
WTF??
I doubt it was cheaper.. Maybe the same cost as shooting here as it was for all the agency To fla beck to shoot et in the auld contree.
Still no excuse. I’m sure Toyota get incentives to keep the local car industry here.. And are spending it on keeping the sth african film industry alive
I’m sorry, but the agency ‘gurus’ needs to give themselves a massive upper-cut! After all the big noting talk, name one piece of work that has come close to being regarded as world class – let alone sit alongside the great work this once great agency has produced in the past – especially for Toyota!
One bad egg.
Three South Africans on the job. You work it out.
I think they need to start implementing apartheid when it comes to segregating bad ideas – a Toyota campaign at 70 george used to be the opportunity you’d give your left nut for.
I suspect much of the blame lies with the client too. They lost any ambition to be a great advertiser years ago. This also stinks of research’s heavy hand.
that kid’s white flag does it for me. a sign for help.
Glad to see the creative standards are still so high at Saatchi (he says laughing)
It’s reached a point where S&S must have to pay their creatives “danger money” to work there.
YESSUS BOET Sis hey!
You’d need to be a creative genius to work at Saatchi’s. HA HA.
“Ok Oaks, in for a huddle. We all got a great trip back to the motherland out of this, those Windhoeks tasted lekker as ever and that vors was kiff. But we have a problem, this ad is kak eh.”
“Sis bru Aaah know. What do we do eh?”
“Let’s just keep it on the DL, no PR, no one will eva know my china.”
” Good scheme Bru, just our little secret…….”
S&S=The New Oddfellows
I think your attempt at channeling the South African accent is possibly more ridiculous than the ad itself. As long as you think you’re you’re funny I guess.
Forget the attempt to try and make the Cape look like Australia with gums etc….forget that the client hadn’t been to CT and wanted Toyota to pay for it…forget that we have uncreative Saffers here taking jobs away from very talented Aussies…what is also forgettable is the actual idea. It’s a farkin shocker. So bloody corny and old fashioned. These guys should be reported to the Immigration department then deported back to CT. The worst I’ve seen in a long time.
perfectly said ‘kaankukindemellies’
Damian. What are you doing?
Wow. It doesn’t take much for the bigotry and inferiority complex that gently simmers away under the Aussie persona to boil to the surface. In this case, a Toyota ad shot in another country. Do you feel the same about the ads filmed in New Zealand? Do you think the talented Aussie expats working elsewhere around the world deserve the same treatment? Are the words on the comments above Australian, or that wonderful term – ‘un-Australian’?
And to think they were going to show us Aussies how it’s done. Hilarious.
Welcome to Australia. Please take a look at our not-internationally-price-competitive production companies and, while you’re here, feel free to indulge in our world-famous casual racism.
where ARE Saatchi & Saatchi when you need them
Obviously a white South African. Historically, not really the best nationality to be taking the moral high ground on racist issues.
Whities from one country taking the piss out of whities from another. Hardly racism is it!
Regardless of where anyone was from or where it was shot, it is a pretty corny idea, executed with extra, extra cheese. Nachos – almost.
It was never going to be a great ad, but the direction of the beaming parents and the forced, oh so thinly disguised product lines about ‘he likes the beach’…. cut to RAV off-roading on sand make it feel very, very ‘selly’. Pity.
Didn’t Toyota just do a campaign on Australian jobs? You know, a big worthy piece that shows Toyota supporting Australians.
Racism: A hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.
Colour doesn’t come into it, mate. It’s discrimination based on race, which doesn’t just mean colour of skin. So, yes, it IS racism. And no, it’s not a bit of a laugh.
If you’ve been in advertising more than 5 minutes you’d realise that some ads are made for political, strategic reasons. The ad is not great admittedly, but it’s not pure crap either. It’s basically client pleasing wallpaper that possibly buys the agency credit for future projects. Perhaps it’s part of a long game that involves repairing relationships, establishing trust and keeping the client happy so that some braver work will be considered on the next project. Surely most of you know what I’m talking about? We all make average day to day work that keeps the bills paid, unless my 10 years in the game has been a totally unique experience. Give the agency a break and remember that we are all trying our best to get great work out. It takes time and patience. Why do we need to tear down the work and throw out cowardly, anonymous comments at the people that made it? Yes, we should all be striving for great work, but none of us work at an agency where that happens on every piece. Sure, I’ll get crucified for being a soft, peace flag waving tosser, but I reckon the mature creatives out there know exactly what I’m talking about. Especially since they themselves are in the midst of doing some truly stinky work to keep teams employed and milk in the fridge.
That’s all fine, but when you PR work on this infamous blog, you are essentially saying to the industry “Here is some creative work we are seriously proud of”, not “Here is an OK ad created to please the client and keep some people employed”.
So the only logical conclusion is that the guys at Saatchis think this ad is fantastic.
Clearly, it isn’t.
Again, if you have been in advertising more than 5 minutes you would know that agencies don’t control what gets put on Campaign Brief most of the time. There is no way that the agency asked for this to be PR’d.
Does the post read like a press release to you? And for an ad that’s been on air for a few weeks?
(I assume you don’t work in PR?)
@Tall Poppy.
‘Give the agency a break’ ? Are you serious? This is the same agency that in the past treated their employees like scum.
It would seem to me from the headline that it is highly unlikely that this a press release from the agency.
“Go for the gap, my china”
These guys did. I do remember an art director years ago, South African as it happens, saying to his writer “where do we want to go?” Everywhere was the answer, so they shot a spot for a well known fast food company in every nook and cranny of Australia. He then returned to South Africa well traveled.
@please I think it’s a different management team there now. Are the people that worked on this ad the same that treated people like scum?
No, you are correct, I don’t work in PR.
However, there are only agency and production company credits. No client credits, so I doubt it would have come from Toyota (why would they PR it CB anyway)
From my experience, the production company wouldn’t PR it without the agency’s consent.
@tallpoppy
If you too had been in advertising 5 mins you wouldn’t be wasting your time(especially this far in to the blog), trying to defend your agency for producing yet another piece of utter crap.
Get back to work and for the industry’s sake up your bloody game (& stop blaming others – your bosses have had plenty of time to deliver at least one decent piece of work since they took over!)
Should’ve called your cousins over the ditch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu_BlXNbInE
Agree that this is a poor ad, but save the ‘why was it shot overseas with foreign talent crap’ please. You guys are so parochial it’s pathetic.
I don’t see you muppets commenting when the likes of Chris Riggert, Garth Davis or Steve Rogers swan off to the US on a shoot for foreign clients.
You can’t have it both ways Australia. Aussie job for Aussies? Fine.
But don’t even think about sending your talent abroad to gain wider experience.
That’s pretty average. No reason to go to South Africa except for a holiday.
it’s still pretty much straight outta the 1990’s
@ Sad little Aussie syndrome said:
“I don’t see you muppets commenting when the likes of Chris Riggert, Garth Davis or Steve Rogers swan off to the US on a shoot for foreign clients”
A: Those foreign clients may import a director but often still shoot in their own country with local crew!
B: those directors are often chosen because they have a fresh creative perspective or unique style
C: A job may shoot overseas for a look or weather unique to that country.
NONE of the above applies to this spot and the arguments against it still hold.
@ nose knows
Yes those directors may well be chosen for their fresh creative or unique style.
But they’re equally guilty of delivering below average car commercials.
So I think my argument holds up.
And you’re still a sad little Aussie with an inferiority complex.
@Sad little Aussie
Sorry no, your original comment talking about directing talent being imported or exported doesnt hold up.
The issue HERE is a large Aussie owned company that makes a lot of noise about ‘Aussie home grown pride’ exported the WHOLE job not just any directing job,
If im sad its hypocrisy that mad me this way.
@Tall poppy.
Please please don’t defend this ad from your agency saying it was a compromise ad to improve client relationships. Bollocks.
That ad would be a car on the screen in every frame with a VO stating every feature the car has and a Toyota logo in the top right hand frame all the way through.
This ad was a serious attempt at being creative and it doesn’t smack of client involvement at all. No wait…maybe there was…Agency: I know you think this is too creative but what if we told you we wanted to shoot in Capetown…been there?”
“Approved.”