A week ago, Droga5 teased its Back to the Future-themed spot for the Toyota Mirai, featuring Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox, promising to release the full-length ad on October 21, the day Doc and Marty travel to in Back to the Future II. Now that “Back to the Future Day” is here, the agency has released the five-minute “Fueled by the Future.”
Part of the “Fueled by Everything” campaign, the spot follows Mischa, a scientist who meets up with Lloyd and Fox in the diner to collect their trash. He explains that he will be using it to create fuel, sort of like the Mr. Fusion machine Doc uses in the movie. Mischa then returns to pick up the actors and gives them a ride in the fuel-cell powered Mirai. Droga5 pushes the gas on the Back to the Future nostalgia: the spot is set to Huey Lewis and the News’ “The Power of Love,” Mischa drives a Toyota Tacoma (Marty’s ride in the movie), explains the science behind the vehicle using a Doc-inspired model and also slips in several lines from the film (you’d think he’d at least save a couple of those for its actual actors).
Delivering on the internet phenomenon of “Back to the Future Day,” the ad is sure to get its share of views (almost 150,000 already) and it’s easily the most entertaining of Droga5’s “Fueled by Everything” series. At the same time, it can’t help but be a bit disappointing. Mischa’s demonstrations of how the vehicle work are a bit tedious (all that trash he was collecting ends up at the landfill, turning to biogas which goes to a processing plant where it is converted to hydrogen) and aside from their conversation in the diner (which we’ve already seen), Fox and Lloyd are mostly relegated to the sidelines. In addition to the spot, there’s also a brief video explaining “The Science Behind Fueled by the Future,” which extends Mischa’s explanation to Fox and Lloyd of how the vehicle works, using Back to the Future-inspired models.
Credits
Client: Toyota Mirai
Campaign: “Fueled by Everything”
Spots:
Fueled by the Future (4:45)
Clocks Teaser (0:37)
Diner Teaser (0:43)
Fueled by the Future PreRoll (0:15)
FBTF: Behind the Science (1:18)
Launch Date: Oct. 21, 2015
Agency: Droga5, New York
Creative Chairman: David Droga
Chief Creative Officer: Ted Royer
Executive Creative Director: Neil Heymann
Creative Directors: David Gibson, Nathan Lennon
Art Directors: Daniël Sumarna, Inna Kofman
Copywriters: Colin Lord, Bryan Wolff
Associate Design Director: Devin Croda
Designers: Indah Shillingford, Natalie Cho
Chief Creation Officer: Sally-Ann Dale
Head of Broadcast Production: Ben Davies
Executive Broadcast Producer: Scott Chinn
Head of Interactive Production: Niklas Lindstrom
Executive Interactive Producer: Justin Durazzo
Senior Interactive Producer: Maggie Macdonald
Associate Interactive Producer: Morgan Mendel
Director of Technology: Andy Prondak
Senior Technology Lead: Joachim Do
Senior Developer: Jim Alexander
Quality Assurance Engineer: Yadira Isaac
Global Chief Strategy Officer: Jonny Bauer
Strategy Director: Tom Haslow
Strategist: Emily Mulvey
Head of Communications Strategy: Colleen Leddy
Group Communications Strategy Director: Duncan Owen
Communications Strategist: Parks Middleton
Head of Data Strategy: Andrew Tully
Data Strategist: Anthony Khaykin
Social Media Manager: Whitney Brodribb
Group Account Director: Steven Panariello
Account Director: Bola Adekoya
Account Manager: Belle Bonar
Associate Account Manager: Leo Wong
Senior Project Manager: Anika Chowdhury
Client: Toyota
National Marketing, Communications Manager, Advanced Technology Vehicles: Doug Coleman
Vehicle Marketing, Communications Manager, Toyota Marketing Department: Nathan Kokes
National Marketing, Communications, Toyota Motor Sales: Julia Greenberg
Production Company: Caviar
Director: Jeremy Konner
Director of Photography: Simon Thirlaway
Executive Producers: Michael Sagol, Jasper Thomlinson
Producer: Adrianne McCurrach
Editing: Cut + Run
Editor: Georgia Dodson
Assistant Editor: Beau Dickson
Executive Producer: Rana Martin
Producer: Evyn Bruce
Postproduction: MPC, New York
Post Producer: Sophie Gibson
Lead Flame Artist: Alex Harding
Colorist: Adrian Seery
Music: Back to the Future, Back to the Future II Score: Alan Silvestri
“Power of Love”: Huey Lewis and The News
Sound: Heard City
Mixers: Evan Mangiamele, Philip Loeb
Interactive Production Company: Resn
Quality Assurance Testing: Enzyme Testing Labs; Hook QA