{"id":1201,"date":"2010-05-05T10:28:03","date_gmt":"2010-05-05T17:28:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fwdlabs.com\/blog\/?p=1201"},"modified":"2017-08-22T17:54:01","modified_gmt":"2017-08-23T00:54:01","slug":"jody-hills-swagger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fwdlabs.com\/blog\/jody-hills-swagger\/","title":{"rendered":"Jody Hill’s “Swagger”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Toyota’s latest commercial campaign ups the ante to sell the minivan as an object of desire, not just necessity, by emulating a hip-hop video. It’s hard to imagine behavior like this getting anything but laughs in reality, but will this peddle minivans? I betcha it puts a demographic or two over the fence.<\/p>\n

“Swagger’s” director, Jody Hill, is behind HBO’s “Eastbound & Down” and the film, “Observe and Report.” His story is pretty empowering: after starting as a PA in Los Angeles with dreams of directing, he left town where he had better opportunity to do his own work, starting with “The Foot Fist Way.” Success with the feature reached Will Ferrell and Seth Rogen, who brought Hill back, now above the line.<\/p>\n

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Banner at ToyotaSwaggerWagon.com [NO LONGER ONLINE]<\/p><\/div>\n

Complete with extra videos on YouTube [NO LONGER AVAILABLE], the self-described “self-absorbed” couple is the center of this campaign from Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles. The microsite [NO LONGER AVAILABLE] plays along by offering up the MP3:<\/p>\n

With lyrics like “Where my kids at? \/ No, seriously honey, where are the kids? \/ They’re right there, see? \/ Oh, cool beans,” it’s nice to see the recall-ridden company having fun improving its image.<\/p>\n