Team USA Olympians Follow the Road to Success in Toyota Spot

Independent media and ad agency H/L has been tapped by Toyota, the official partner of this year’s Summer Olympics, to bring its latest campaign to life for Northern California. Starring renowned athletes from Team USA’s past and present, Toyota’s campaign surrounding this global event aligns itself with Olympic and Paralympic competitors’ commitment to seeing success as a journey, not a destination. The campaign, commemorating this athletic mindset and starring local Team USA athletes, is aptly titled 'Cancel the Quit,' speaking to Olympian achievement and perseverance and bringing the message of Toyota’s worldwide Olympic partnership home to the greater NorCal area.

Narrated by gold medallist Summer Sanders, the film is the first of H/L and Toyota’s 'Cancel the Quit' effort, with additional films arriving as the Olympics draw nearer. H/L helmed every element of this campaign, from ideation through production, post-production, and media placement in local markets, tapping into every department across the agency to adapt, meet tight timelines, and deliver high-calibre work. Produced through H/L’s in-house production studio Wolf House, the films are directed by Carlo Silvio and highlight Olympic athletes who live, work, or attend school in Northern California. Through this conscious casting, H/L builds brand affinity for Toyota while getting to know these Olympic heroes and celebrating their storied athletic past as enthusiastically as their prospective achievements. 

Through these films, Toyota, the first-ever mobility partner of the Olympic movement, presents itself as an inspiration company rather than just a car company. Similarly to Toyota, Olympic athletes and hopefuls alike share an innate drive to be the best they can be, pushing themselves beyond expectations of normalcy. H/L expertly developed the concepts behind each film of the campaign and precisely placed them in front of Toyota’s target audience in Northern California. Innovating the typical Olympic ad, this campaign from H/L was the perfect vehicle to illustrate the athletes’ stories, witnessing them in action in symbiotic juxtaposition with Toyota cars and trucks.

“Family is everything to me, and my Olympic family is no different,” says Summer. “My long term partnership with Toyota is just another example of that commitment. It has been a great joy of mine to be part of the Northern California Toyota family for so many years, and to celebrate the love of sport and community by highlighting local athletes as they prepare to achieve their dreams. Bring on the celebration and the watch parties. I’ll be the one in the RAV4!"

H/L’s vice president and the campaign’s executive creative director, Dallas Baker, adds, “The Olympics, by nature, are steeped in flag-waving, world-stage tales of epic athletic achievement. Our idea was to explore the rougher edge of that - not all of the athletes we cast in these films were shoo-ins to make the team. That played to our theme even stronger. This made a global event more accessible and relatable to Toyota customers in Northern California and built a bigger regional impact to amplify Toyota’s global sponsorship of the games with them.”

Dave Johnston, Northern California Toyota Dealer association president, also shares, “Our goal is to bring Toyota’s international sponsorship of the Olympics to life here in Northern California, and this campaign does an amazing job of amplifying the Olympic spirit and connecting to our brand locally.”