Holden launches fast-paced, action-packed ‘This is how we SUV’ campaign via AJF Partnership
![TIHWSUV 1[4].jpg](https://asset-cdn.campaignbrief.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/04161855/TIHWSUV2015B45D.jpg)
Holden presents its best SUV line-up yet, in its latest campaign developed by GrowthOps business, AJF Partnership, Melbourne.
Filmed in and around Wellington, New Zealand, Holden’s five SUVs retrieve a stolen painting in a fast-paced, action-packed commercial that showcases the diversity of its SUV range.
With the recent arrival of the Acadia SUV, joining the Trax, Equinox, Tourer, and Trailblazer SUVs, Holden continues to meet the different needs of Australian and New Zealand drivers.
![TIHWSUV 2[2].jpg](https://asset-cdn.campaignbrief.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/04160502/TIHWSUV2025B25D.jpg)
The Acadia is the big and bold SUV, with a distinctive look and lots of room on the inside. Trax is the small and tall SUV that’s zippy and nimble making its way through city laneways. While Equinox is about power and driving performance, and Trailblazer has three tonne towing, so nothing will phase it.
Says Kristian Aquilina, marketing director, Holden: “This is How We SUV’ was an important step in transforming a brand once synonymous only with large passenger cars, to also being a brand of choice for Aussies and Kiwis wanting to buy an SUV.
“While Holden has a 70-year history in the market, we are a challenger brand in SUVs. We have great products, many of which are entirely new nameplates for our market.
“Holden is embracing the challenger mindset: offering great vehicles, sharp pricing and award-winning customer service to steal share from SUV segment leaders.”
![TIHWSUV 3[2].jpg](https://asset-cdn.campaignbrief.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/04160502/TIHWSUV2035B25D.jpg)
Says Adam Francis, ECD, AJF Partnership: “For the first time in Holden’s history they have a full range of great SUVs. So, the challenge for us was to create a way of showcasing all five of them, in environments and with drivers that suit them, in a very short space of screen time.
“We also wanted to stay clear of all the SUV clichés of campsites and extended families. A ‘Hollywood style heist’ seemed like the perfect vehicle to showcase ‘this is how we SUV’ at Holden.”
Client: GM Holden Australia
Kristian Aquilina – Director – Marketing
Marnie Jane Samphier – General Manager, Marketing Strategy
Matthew Rattray-Wood – General Manager, SUV Marketing
Jayne Willmott – Marketing & Retail – Projects Lead
Krista Pech – Digital Marketing Manager – Performance & Content
Creative agency: AJF Partnership, a GrowthOps Business
Executive Creative Director – Adam Francis
Creative Director – George Freckleton
Creative Director – Glenn Dalton
Senior Copywriter – Brent Liebenberg
Senior Art Director – Ed Carveth
Head of TV Production – Roz Ruwhiu
Social Media & Content Producer – Claire Luongo
Head of Strategy – Jacqueline Witts
Director, General Manager – Jayne Brady
Senior Account Director – Magda Majorek
Account Manager – Amy McKay
Production Company: Sweetshop
Director – Noah Marshall
Producer – Allison Lockwood
DP – John Toon
Executive Producer: Loren Bradley
Managing Director: Edward Pontifex
Sound: Final Sound
Editing – ARC EDIT – Drew Thompson
Audio Engineer – Stevo Williams, Final Sound
Colourist – Tom Poole, Company 3
Online Editor – Richard Lambert
18 Comments
really, really like it
But do you really, really like it? Really?
Can’t wait for the parody version where they get into the room, see it’s a Ken Done and decide not to bother.
Good ad except for the junior client bullshit at the end. Why return it? Makes little sense they’d be on the run and go to that effort…
Pretty sure they are returning it to the rightful owner/gallery…
Watching agency and client snipe at each other anonymously in a comment thread.
Sadly that really is a bit of an incoherent mess. Had to read about it to understand what it was supposed to be about. And even aftewards, when I understood they were stealing / returning a painting, I watched it again and now I’m left with even more questions… just wtf?
Agree – it’s that Target Christmas spot all over again. Trying to tell a 20 minute narrative in a 60″ spot, just ends up confusing.
Surely if it didn’t come up during scripting someone had to have pointed it out when you got to storyboards. And if by some unlucky chance it got through storyboards and into Pre-production, you’d think someone drawing up a shortlist would have politely mentioned that it makes no sense and with all these little masking taped together cuts it’s going to look like a short film without the emotion, comedy or narrative?
What a waste of money. Can’t wait to see you cut that for TV.
Confused as to what’s confusing people here. They steal back an artwork and return it to a gallery. In the process they show some SUVs. What’s not to get?
This could have been Ocean’s 11 cool, but that song makes is just so pedestrian.
A Film by AJF
Starring Holden’s
TARGET XMAS 2
“The Confusion Continues”
I get that people may not like it ,but I don’t get that they don’t get it.What’s not to understand?Pretty simple from where I’m sitting.
We’re going to need a translator to make sense of the screen language through the middle chase scene. Trying to sell too many different cars in the one ad has ultimately led to a confused narrative.
You all seem really obsessed with this agency.
Who the fuck remembers what their Christmas ad was like for a totally different client?
Try telling that to the client…
I have no problem following the ad, what I am trying really hard to find out is…..
Who is that gorgeous little Blond? I cant find a cast list anywhere.
The agency lists off the director, the sound guy, etc, but there is not a single mention of the actual cast!
If anyone knows who she is, or how I might find out I would really appreciate a heads-up.
Thanks
What is the tune playing in the background?
One Way or Another by Blondie