Grab the Kleenex, then watch

Father’s Day is past, so this comes two weeks and perhaps 11 years too late. But this may be the most emotionally intense ad I have ever seen.

It was produced by the ad agency Hakuhodo. It’s an 11-year-old ad for Toyota, but it’s new to me, perhaps because it only aired in Japan.  

It’s called “Loving Eyes” and follows the relationship between a father and a daughter over the course of decades—from baby, to toddler, to brooding teenager, to adulthood, and finally to motherhood.

The ad promotes Toyota’s then-new Safety Sense system, which helps prevent collisions. Such an ad easily could have been very tech-forward and factual. Instead, Hakuhodo took an emotional approach. 

Perhaps because I am the father of a teenage daughter, I found this ad incredibly emotional, one that invited all kinds of co-created meaning. I’m not the only one still talking about it. And the collision-prevention system plays a clear role. It’s not just a PSA for parenthood sponsored by Toyota.

You might also be interested in how Hakuhodo’s creative director pitches spots like this and how he thinks about moving from a sterile creative brief to something amazing.

AI is making some brands question the value of ad agencies, but could AI create a plotline like this? This seems like something that could only come from a human. Although I would be fascinated to see a :30 or :15 version of this.  Could this work in a shorter form?