An oldie, but such a goodie—Yaris. It’s a Car! This bold, irreverent, all-digital campaign for the 2012 Toyota Yaris celebrated the charm of a shockingly basic car through a highly inventive, tech-forward approach. As Lead Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi, I conceived and led the development of the campaign, which centered around itsacar.com, a deeply experimental HTML5 microsite starring comedian Michael Showalter.Production was handled by the talented team at Acne.
At the heart of the campaign was the interactive site itself—hosted by Showalter—who deadpanned his way through a looping, 20-minute gamified tour, highlighting "features" like cup holders and windows with dry absurdity. The experience was bizarre, captivating, and entirely original. The site pushed technical boundaries for its time, using WebGL, real-time physics simulations, CSS3, adaptive sound, and Multi-User Socket Communication to create a responsive, interactive world where users could even modify the source code.
Deliberately avoiding traditional media, the campaign targeted younger, web-native consumers with a digital-first strategy. It expanded into a broader ecosystem that included custom Funny or Die sketches, satirical “unboxing” videos parodying tech culture, interactive games, and tongue-in-cheek social media extensions—all reinforcing the self-aware, no-frills spirit of the Yaris through humor and innovation.
The result was a fully immersive digital experience that turned simplicity into a creative advantage. And it worked: by February, Toyota had already reached 80% of its annual Yaris sales goal. The campaign also earned industry recognition and was featured on Google’s Creative Sandbox for its innovation.