People are
the destination

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
Client: Toyota
AD: 🙋‍♀️
CW: Alexis Johnson
ACDs: Lynn Born and Michal Buss
CD: Annie Elliott
Jr. Team: Krystal Rountree, Serena Latimer
Producer: Erica Taylor
Director: Rodrigo Saavedra

The OVERVIEW

Cars with more than 5 seats are not for everyone. They are for those with a big crew in their lives: a big family, pets, kids, or a big group of friends. These are the people who are almost never alone, and love it. Their heart is full when their car is full. How do we show them that Toyota gets them?

The CONCEPT

People are the Destination. We positioned Toyota not just as a vehicle to go places, but as a vehicle for human connection. Every trip is all about the people they love. Toyota carries big families through kids' laughs and siblings' chaos, friend groups to fun trips and long-awaited reconnection opportunities, and helps people support their elderly loved ones.

My Role

I collaborated with the team from concept ideation through production execution, helping develop the strategic positioning, concepting the scripts, and I owned the photography shadow shoot from shot-list, to on-set art direction, to retouching.

The Outcome

And one of the commercials was selected to be the Toyota 2026 Super Bowl spot and received a ton of press coverage.

DIGITAL CHANNELS VISUAL CONCEPT

The challenge was translating the spots’ strong focus on real human connection into static digital assets.
The idea of the photo album resonates with the target audience, who love documenting every moment together, creating memories.
The creative direction is heartfelt, with a photorealistic and vintage style to reach a nostalgic tone. The details, like the paper tape and some doodles, make it feel personal. To tie the design to the commercials, I turned the red Pin in the spots’ end card into a sticker, creating an element of continuity.

THE TYPOGRAPHY:
We added a human touch to the Toyota type, with a hand-written/marker typography style to the campaign tagline and some headlines.

THE PHOTOGRAPHY:
The photography captures authentic moments of human connection while incorporating the car in every shot, reminding the audience of Toyota’s role in bringing people together. The shot list included photos where the car was in the background, appearing as the literal vehicle or connection, and with the car as the hero.

PHOTOGRAphY SHOOT

The photography was captured during a week-long shadow shoot running parallel to the video production, with limited windows between scene changes to access talent and vehicles. To bypass the challenge, I developed a comprehensive shot list that prioritized efficiency without sacrificing the creative vision. Each set of talent was photographed in a variety of shots, where the car was in the background, appearing as the literal vehicle or connection, and with the car as the hero.