Toyota NZ launches new ‘Feels Good Inside’ TVC for its Toyota Corolla via Saatchi & Saatchi NZ
Toyota New Zealand and Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand have launched the all-new 2013 Toyota Corolla with a romantic story between a love-struck cat and a feel-good car.
The campaign launched exclusively online to the Toyota Facebook community this week and then aired during Toyota’s partnership with “New Zealand’s Got Talent” on TV ONE on Sunday night.
Says Corey Chalmers and Guy Roberts, Saatchi & Saatchi creative directors: “Anyone who’s taken a cat in a car ride knows how much they hate it, so we thought what lengths would a cat go to for a ride if they loved it? We hope that everyone enjoys this little hyperbolic story and it gives New Zealanders a 
sense of the great feeling you get in the all new Corolla.”
The campaign is rolling out across multiple TV spots, Facebook, YouTube, Print, Outdoor, and Point of Sale over the next 6 months.
Client – Toyota NZ
General Manager Of Marketing – Neeraj Lala
Marketing Manager – Andrew Davis
New Vehicles Marketing Team Leader – Michael Shepherd
Agency – Saatchi & Saatchi NZ
ECD – Antonio Navas
CDs/Creatives – Corey Chalmers & Guy Roberts
Co-creatives – Sarah Litwin-Schmid & Emily Drake
Head of Content – Jane Oak
Head of Planning – Murray Streets
GAD – Mark Cochrane
AD – Emma Guadagni
Media Director – Sally Falconer
Production Company – GoodOil
Director – Hamish Rothwell
Producer – Sam Long
DOP – Crichton Bone
Editor – Peter Sciberras
Online – Blockhead – Nigel Mortimer
Audio Post – Liquid Studios
Music Composition – Elliott Wheeler
Music Production – Turning Studios
Audio Post Production – Liquid
Sound Engineer – Craig Matuschka
Animal Trainer – Caroline Girdlestone
Media Agency – Starcom
PR Agency – Wright Communications
Digital Agency – Aim Proximity Wellington
24 Comments
mmm. Hurting animals. Hilarious.
Nice
i want to work in NZ.
I really hate cats so I really liked this. I don’t really care what the product is but a delightful short film. I am going to watch it again.
Best car ad I’ve seen in ages. Well done.
a client that doesn’t require a car pack shot? genius
This puts all of my usual youtube cat watching to shame…
GOLD!
That’s pretty darn funny. The suicide jump onto the dog, especially. Will get the brand, car and cat remembered. Well done to the agency and client for having the balls (I hope the vet left those intact) to pull this off.
Awesomeness!!!! Well done all!
Feels a bit old-fashioned. I like cats too, they’re funny, but this feels a bit forced. The grave thing is a bit obvious, can see it coming a mile off. Would’ve been better if the cat somehow didn’t have to die.
hmmm…not sure about this one. it reminds me a lot of the south american spot where the granny dies over and over (esepecially the paw shot at the end). even the music seems to hint towards that. and then there’s the question of why the cat likes the car? i know that’s the joke – that cats hate cars – but why is this one any different? i don’t see anything about the car that would make it so. i dunno…maybe i’m just getting hard to please in my old age.
At last, the new BUGGER!
This is the cats bollocks -well done all!
Noice.
Spot of the year for me.
Bravo!
Love it!
And the audio is just spot on…
I wasn’t aware that cat don’t like cars. Is that really the premise behind this spot?
Generic comedy sketch that could be for any car.
@insert product – do you think cars are really all that different from each other that each one needs a new story to sell it? I like your optimism.
@ Whiskers Ute:
Isn’t that our job?
Sadly, “Insert product”, it’s your comment that is itself generic, and would apply to about 15,000 great commercials loved by consumers across all categories.
However, on your behalf I wrote to Volkswagen, pointing that their “Little Vader” spot was also a generic comedy sketch, could have been done for any car, and told me nothing rational or motivating about the actual features of the new Passat, hence they were wasting my time.
They wrote back and offered to send me through AWARD School again, at their own expense. Want to join me? You need to, oh, how you need to.
I love this ad. I want to go live in NZ. Well done all.
@Keep your hands off my pussy:
if you want to go into comedy sketch writing then I think Award school is probably the wrong place for you.
As it happens, yes I do think the Vader VW spot is also completely ineffective and a waste of airtime.
I prefer originality of ideas over cheap gags, and I’m quite happy to debate it with you. Give me a Honda Grrr, Guinness Surfer, or Guardian Three Little Pigs over your idea of creative advertising advertising any day of the week.
Well mate, you’re perfectly entitled to your opinion that the Vader VW spot is “completely ineffective and a waste of airtime”. We’re all entitled to an opinion.
But it’s not one that’s likely to be shared by the client. Now, I’m not in favour of using YouTube views as a gauge of an ad’s worth, much preferring cold, hard cash instead.
That VW ad delivered it in spades.
Following the Little Vader ad’s airing in the Superbowl, the Passat’s sales volume nearly doubled – in fact, the new Passat achieved more US sales in the first two months post-launch, than the previous Passat model achieved in the whole of 2010. What changed in this period? Only their advertising. Plus, the ad generated an estimated US$100 million in free publicity.
Not that ineffective, then. For a cheap gag.
The line “yeah, but that idea could have been for any brand in (insert category here)” is one I’ve heard a dozen times. The best answer is “yeah, but this brand got there first.”
The Three Little Pigs would have worked for almost any of the other competing quality UK broadsheets in that market. Sign it off as “The Independent” instead of “The Guardian”. See? Works perfectly (better, in fact.) So by your definition this is a “insert name of newspaper here” idea. But the Guardian got there first – that’s the point. Honda “Grrr” could have been done by Toyota, or any other car manufacturer that wanted to greenwash diesel engines. But Honda got there first. Guinness Surfer is non-replicable because it was built inside “Waiting” as a brand idea, but that’s not the point. How many executions of the idea that “hate is good” did Honda ever make? Yep, 1. And you’ve mentioned it already.
Nor would I agree that this Toyota cat spot is a comedy sketch with a product shoehorned in. Toyota wants to tell us their car’s nice inside. The cat likes the inside so much, it repeatedly tries anything to get in. Dat da story. If I’m interested, I go online / showroom to find out why & how this Toyota is nice inside.
The benefit is absolutely central to the idea.