Manufacturers put a lot of thought and millions of dollars into advertising their cars to potential customers.

Behind any new television ad there are hefty marketing research reports to be read, surveys of customers and lengthy discussions around big tables by senior managers. Finally, the marketing team comes up with a story designed to appeal to the people they believe will want to drive their new vehicle.
All this builds on decades of marketing to build up the personality of the brand in the minds of consumers.

For internationally renowned director Mark Toia, a great ad starts with a great idea.
The New Zealand-born director is now based in Brisbane and travels the world for up to nine months a year making corporate advertisements.
Recently he was in Queenstown, filming the latest global ad for Isuzu's 2016 D-Max.
"I shoot in Queenstown once or twice a year" he says – it has great locations close to the town, lots of talented people to make up a crew and any equipment we need is all here".
"For the D-Max ad it's all high adrenaline stunts and action using bikes, jetskis, a guy in a wingsuit and, of course, fabulous background scenery."
Tough, durable, safe and fuel efficient – these are the elements of the Isuzu D-Max personality that has been created over the past few years.
This latest global television ad is designed to accentuate the emotional connection between customer and ute.

It is music, drama and the story line that makes the emotional connection, explains Mark. For this ad, the story is based on matesship and it links the D-Max to friends sharing thrills.
"So, we've put in the big stunts to get people's hearts racing. The music has been specially composed and will be cut to fit the action and grab peoples attention."
The ad was filmed over three days, with the crew of about 25 – which is pretty small.
"It's all relative to the amount of equipment you are using" explains Mark – "more equipment means more people. More people means the process slows down."
The days are long, often starting before 6am and ending well after dark when filming may be over but plans need to be made for the following day.
The logistics are complicated – the hero vehicle must be transported by truck between locations, and so must the crews. Everyone needs to eat regularly and the cameras and other equipment must be protected from the elements and from damage.

When making a car television ad, the driver is never referred to as a 'stunt' driver. It's all about precision and care. For the recent shoot in Queenstown for Isuzu’s D Max 2017 this shoot it was well-known motorsports competitor and Queenstown local Grant Aitken. Grant has been precision driving for movie and advertising production companies for the past 20 years.
"I was asked by a local guy if I would drive a BMW X5 for a TV commercial. They put me in a car, gave me a radio and said 'Do what you're told'. Everyone was rushing around and a guy said 'Action!'. I laughed and thought it was just like the movies, then someone came up and said 'Thats you'."
Some of the simplest pieces of driving are the hardest – for instance driving up to a set point and stopping the wheel at the exact place that will display the brand name at its best.
Grant has driven in movies such as The World's Fastest Indian, doubling for Sir Anthony Hopkins.
For most ads, you never get to see Grant do his thing. The windows of these cars are generally tinted fairly dark, so you don't see the driver.

One of Grant's fondest memories is being let loose with a Hummer. General Motors shipped out five of the H2s with the intent of shooting file footage for future ads.
"So there were three or four of us driving them around the country, across the snow, through rivers, up mountains and so on. They gave us two weeks and basically told us to go for your life, we're going to shoot the shit out of them".
The director said he'd be surprised if we didn't write at least one off. So there we were with a helicopter. We shot day in and day out, it was great fun".
Sadly, the footage never saw the light of day as far as Grant knows. This was back around 2005, about the time when oil prices were rising and the market for big vehicles took a dive. The last Hummer was made in 2010.
Another commercial Grant drove in never saw the light of day either.
"It was shot for a Chrysler and they wanted to show off the two sun roofs it had. So they were going to pretend the car could go underwater and the children in the backseat could look up through the sunroofs. So we went down to the sea, backed it into the breakers. I was waiting for the action call so I could emerge from the surf, which would be the shot showing the car emerging from underwater. We started floating, the talent was next to me asking what would happen if the waves made us roll, and then eventually the waves smashed the back window..and cut!".