Last year, Toyota used its sponsorship deal with One Weather in a creative way by getting the pie-loving protagonist from its Hilux advertising to reprise his role, introduce the daily report and somehow tie it in to the vehicle. Now, following Ford’s Ranger sales victory in the ute category last year, the first time in 32 years the Hilux hasn’t been atop the podium, it’s created its own hirsute weatherman to rub it in.
Earlier, Ford and its agency JWT released a print ad celebrating the Ranger’s sales victory and its various awards. And it also referenced one of Toyota’s previous Hilux ads with the mention of a steak and cheese pie.
Toyota has long used the best-selling ute tag in its Hilux marketing. But Ford sold a total of 6,345 Rangers last year, not far off the top selling car model, the Toyota Corolla, which sold 6,472 vehicles, and around 560 more than the Hilux. Despite these numbers, Toyota still claimed the Hilux was New Zealand’s top-selling 4×4 ute, putting a post on Facebook saying that “everyone else is talking number twos”, a reference to the sales of 2WD utes.
