If the audience is already convinced that your vehicle can survive almost anything, there may not be much point in proving it all over again. Toyota has therefore turned the launch of the new-generation Hilux into a warning for those who take its reputation for durability a little too literally.
In the Please Hilux Responsibly campaign, created by T&P, Hilux owners behave as if the vehicle practically has no limits. A picnic on the edge of a mountain in the middle of a snowstorm, driving through crocodile-infested waters, or turning the loading bed into an improvised hot tub are just some of the scenarios in which the campaign takes behaviours already shared online by owners of vehicles like these and pushes them a few steps further.
This approach has allowed the brand to avoid building the communication around the new generation of the model on the usual demonstrations of toughness. The Hilux already has decades of stories involving extreme conditions behind it, from polar expeditions to the famous Top Gear destruction tests, so the creative concept starts from the assumption that its durability no longer needs much explanation.
“In a category where every brand is trying to prove how tough they are, the Hilux has nothing left to prove. So, we flipped the category on its head. Instead of boasting, we’re doing the exact opposite and asking drivers to show a little restraint,” explained Andreas Lefteris and Élson Rodrigues, the senior creative team behind the campaign.
The campaign consists of a main spot, which is running in UK cinemas, and eight shorter scenarios for social media. The different situations are tailored to B2B, retail and lifestyle audiences, while also presenting the different powertrain options of the new-generation Hilux, including hybrid and fully electric versions.
The main film was directed by Martin Werner and produced by Papaya Films. Its tone resembles a public warning, except the problem is not what the vehicle cannot do, but what its owners decide to attempt because they believe it can.
The idea continues in a separate film directed by Kit Lynch-Robinson. In it, a Toyota lawyer attempts to read the Hilux terms and conditions while sitting next to Toyota Gazoo Racing driver Seth Quintero, who meanwhile pushes the new GR DKR Hilux to its limits.
