Ford squishes cane toad in JWT Melbourne-crafted viral video

"Cane Toads were introduced into Australia to keep the sugar cane beetle population down," said creative director Rob Beamish in a phone interview with Campaign. "Unfortunately they've become a real pest, poisoning the local wildlife. The government has been trying to cull them and they're generally reviled and hated, which gives us license to have a bit of fun." 

In the video (shown above), Ralphie is imparting the wisdom of his presumably longer lifespan to the younger, more naive and slightly intoxicated Les. Ralphie proves mistaken in his estimation of an oncoming four-cylinder car's speed—with tragically messy results. 

"Strategically, it's tackling the issue that four-cylinder engines are a lot less powerful than six-cylinder," Beamish said. "But the new generation of engines generate a lot more power."

Because the Ford Falcon EcoBoost is already well-known to the Australian market, JWT decided to take a very different approach to communicating this selling point. 

"The client is fully aware that to go viral, the price of entry is entertainment," he said. "We wanted to find an entertaining way of communicating the power of the Ford car, an engaging memorable piece that will increase the chances of it being forwarded and shared."

The video is also currently a one-off, not tied to any existing campaign or to Ford's rather "straight" brand. This, adds Beamish, is deliberate. But there are plans to keep the viral wave going. 

The toads in the video are puppets created by Glasshammer fx New Zealand, and the scene was shot entirely on-camera. "No CG was used—even the exploding toad was shot on camera," Beamish said. 

Creative credits:
Executive Creative Director: Richard Muntz, JWT Melbourne
Creative Director: Jim Ritchie, JWT Melbourne
Creative Director: Rob Beamish, JWT Melbourne
Director: Chris & Lachlan
Production company: Exit Films
Post production: Iloura
Puppet makers: Glasshammer fx New Zealand

The video piece was created to support a strategy developed by Global Team Ford
(JWT, Wunderman, Mindshare and Pulse Communications).