CHALLENGE

From the moment we saw their creative, we fell in love with Tribal DDB Toronto's 2009 Subaru Forester campaign. To highlight that with the vehicle's new styling, "Japanese SUVs just got a little sexier," ads would feature sumo wrestlers draping themselves over Foresters like your typical over-exposed car show models.

With print, radio, point-of-sale and and television spots launching across Canada, the campaign needed an equally engaging interactive web experience to support the campaign. What Fuel Industries provided was an opportunity to go behind the scenes of the sexiest Subaru campaign of the decade.

STRATEGY

The Sexy Subaru TV spot features a team of extremely self-confident Sumo wrestlers washing a 2009 Subaru Forester, and getting wet and wild in the process. The website to accompany this campaign played on the same concept of taking one of the most iconic Japanese images--the Sumo--and imbuing it with a lighthearted sexuality. This time, however, users had control over how, and from what angle, they wanted to take in the raw power of the rikishi.

CREATIVE AND EXECUTION

The theme of the site would be a sexy sumo photo-shoot taking place in, on, and around a 2009 Forester. Users step into the shoes of a photographer and get behind the eyepiece of a camera for a hot photo session. The model? None other than the current and two-time world Sumo champion Byambajav Ulanbayar. The site would be video based, so in order to capture the assets we needed, Fuel Films orchestrated a shoot of its own in an old airplane hangar. Our video team converted the space into a pin-up style automotive shoot. With a world wrestling champion in our midst, staying motivated was not a problem.

With the video captured, we built a site allowing users to control the camera over-top of the footage. Upon arriving on the site, the user is briefed about the shoot and invited to select an area of the Forester on which to get started. Once the feature of the vehicle is selected, the site opens up, the model walks into the light and the shoot begins. Able to position the camera as they wish and zoom in and out with the mouse wheel, users snap as many photos as they like while the model continues to pose. Once each shoot is finished, users may review their photos on a light board and digitally alter the pics to create unique works of art.

Once happy with their shots, users can post the pictures for other visitors to see, or submit their favorites for a shot at a prize package including a Canon Digital SLR, a Macbook Air, and a copy of Photoshop CS3.

All this without having to develop a single roll of film.