Earlier this year, Toyota and Saatchi & Saatchi enlisted the services of comedian Dai Henwood to star in an entertaining campaign for its Genuine Parts business that played on the Japanese brand’s high levels of trust—and on the fear we all have of being ripped off by automotive cowboys. In the clips, Henwood did an Eddie Murphy/Martin Lawrence and played a dodgy-yet-loaded business owner Frank, a boganic secretary Sherl and a salty tow truck driver Trev. And now he’s back for another round where he again shows his acting versatility by adding an uptight businessman, a disinterested student and even a mum and her beautiful baby to his repertoire.
The last set of clips was based in the ‘Tuff Towing’ yard and had some fun with engrained stereotypes to drum home the message that going cheap on parts could lead to expensive consequences—and vast riches for tow truck companies (in case you were wondering, mechanics were ranked 27th on the list of least trusted professions in the latest Reader’s Digest survey and car sales people were listed at 46th). Executive creative director Corey Chalmers says Trev was a popular character, so they decided to take him on the road and the new batch shows him fleecing a few stereotypical suckers at breakdowns (it’s thought Trev previously worked in the engineering department at Volkswagen, tsk tsk).
As it says on the website, which features plenty of information and a bit of mythbusting: “Expensive things can happen down the road if the parts in your Toyota aren’t genuine. After all, the reason why Toyotas are so popular is because they’re so reliable. And the reason they’re so reliable is because they are made by Toyota with genuine parts and quality materials. The reality is that Toyota Genuine Parts are competitively priced. The difference is that they fit right the first time, and will give you thousands of kilometres of trouble-free motoring.”
The campaign runs online, in print and across point of sale from 8 November.
Credits:
Creative Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
Executive Creative Directors: Guy Roberts & Corey Chalmers
Writers: Nick Ward, Bob Moore
General Manager: Paul Wilson
Business Director: Susie Darling
Producer: Anna Kennedy
Production Company: 8com
Director: Jamie Lawrence
Producer: Gene Keelan
Exec Producer: Katie Millington
DOP: Andrew McGeorge
Editor: Jochen Fitzherbert
Sound Mix: Franklin Road Audio.