2015 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

Toyota is recognized globally for their unmatched quality, durability and reliability, but they don’t have a particularly young image in this region – they’re regarded as safe, which appeals to a more aging demographic in terms of communication. The goal here was to shift perception and make Toyota appeal to a younger generation. So we capitalized on the insight that in the region, youth are rebellious in nature and want everything to be customized so thatthey can express themselves. The ad became a tribute to youth; to hip-hop, dance, art, and most importantly, expression. Toyota opened new communication with a younger audience, speaking their language for the first time in their communication.

Creative Execution

The biggest challenge in the creation of this TVC was not relying completely on CGI to create special effects; we wanted it to look authentic and organic, and were able to achieve this through support by postproduction. As for location, Dubai presented some challenges especially regarding the visual effects we wanted. The city is also not graffiti-friendly, so we built our own walls and flew in an artist from France to do the murals. We also built the 7x7m speaker wall for accurate magnitude and effect, along with all street installations and boom bikes. Many professionals also joined our team from all over the world. The postproduction team came from France, as did the Director who stayed for the entire process until the TVC was almost aired, adding a lot of craft and value to it. We also flew in a French DJ for the scratching shots to achieve the exact hand movements of a professional, an Art Director from England to work on the anamorphic scenes, and a cast member from Italy just to smile at the camera for 2 seconds! The music track was made especially for film as well and featured Rap Artists from New York.