My Favourite Tim Bullock Commercials
This is another in the globally popular ACES series of featuring commercial filmmakers and directors that I admire, for their skills in bringing creative concepts and storylines to enthralling life.
Tim Bullock
Australian economics graduate, writer, producer and director Tim Bullock, spent eight formative years at Saatchi & Saattchi before deciding that filmmaking was his true passion.
He went on to produce award winning short films, co-produced a TV comedy series as writer and creator, and became a commercial director in great demand.
I find his attention to detail, his insightful storytelling and keenly observed foibles of human behaviour that he expresses with such effective filmic humour and character portrayal, very rewarding to view.
1. Toyota Hilux, In The Middle
Advertising Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney, Australia
Chief Creative Officer: Steve Cochran
Creative Directors: Piero Ruzzene, and Kerem Sekerci
Creative Team: Jake Blood, Hannah Payton, and Mac Wright
Head of Design: Tod Duke-Yonge
Production Company: Scoundrel, Sydney, Australia
Director of Photography: Shelly Farthing-Dawe
Photographic and Production Service Boutique: Louis&Co, Sydney, Australia
Brought to life by maestro storytelling-filmmaker and director, Tim Bullock, Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney agency’s 2023 Toyota ‘In The Middle’ film-scenario, entertainingly highlights the marque’s strong brand kinship with Australian HiLux owners.
The superbly produced commercial of shared custody by a couple going through a separation, who discover that they have an unbreakable connection with their Toyota Hilux which makes it difficult to stay apart, is a whimsical portrayal of smiling affinity.
2. CANAL Plus, Spitfire
Advertising Agency: BETC, Paris, France
Executive Creative Director: Stéphane Xiberras
Creative Director: Eric Astorgue
Art Director: Romain Ducos
Copywriter: Chrystel Jung
Agency Producer: Isabelle Menard
Production Company: Insurrection, Paris, France
Post Production Company: Mathematic, Paris, France
Music and Sound Design Studios: Schmooze, Paris, France
Masterly directed by filmmaker Tim Bullock, the hugely enjoyable WWII parody of the hit film ‘Dunkirk’, features Spitfire pilots, who are well past their prime. The commercial serves as an amusing message for viewers to not postpone watching the ‘BIG movies’ currently available on France’s Premium Pay TV channel, CANAL+.
3. Specsavers, Fishing
Advertising Agency: Specsavers Creative, The Agency, London, UK
Production Company: The Scoundrel Collective, Sydney, Australia
Post Production Company: Fin Design and Effects, Sydney, Australia
The British based Specsavers Group Limited, have launched an integrated advertising campaign in Canada, that continues with their famous “Should Have Gone To Specsavers” theme, that for over 20 years, and many award-winning commercials, has established the company as a multi-national, optical retail chain, of affordable and stylish, prescription eyewear for all ages.
Directed by renowned filmmaker Tim Bullock, and filmed in Queenstown, New Zealand, the 2023 father and son fishing trip scenario, with its typical brand humour, was the first time that the campaign strap-line ‘Should’ve Gone to Specsavers’ was released in Canada, and it’s a viewing gem.
4. Toyota Highlander, Heroes
Advertising Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, Los Angeles, California, USA
Executive Creative Director: John Payne
Production Company: Ruffian, Los Angeles, California, USA
Post Production Studios: Alt.vfx, Los Angeles, California, USA
In what is billed as the biggest advertising platform in the world, the Super Bowl Toyota Highlander ‘Heroes’ commercial, starring Canadian model and actress Cobie Smulders, was seen by well over 100+ million viewers, who tuned in to watch the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers, to be crowned the football champions the 2020 Super Bowl.
Directed by filmmaker Tim Bullock with Canadian cinematographer Trent Opalach behind the camera, the cinematic portrayals of superhero-mom Cobie Smulders, driving a Highlander to rescue victims of various movie-genre dramas, play out against a soundtrack of “Love is the Reason” by American singer/songwriters and musicians, Jerry and Raun Burnham, and ends with an amusingly unexpected twist.
5. JetBlue, Just Alright Doesn’t Fly Here
Advertising Agency: Mullen Lowe, Boston, USA
Executive Creative Directors: Tim Vaccarino, and Dave Weist
Creative Directors: Ben Salsky, and Myles Allpress
Art Director: Ian Todd
Executive Agency Producer: Brian Smith
Production Company: Ruffian, West Hollywood, California, USA
Director of Photography: Jan Velicky
Post Production Company: MPC, Los Angeles, California, USA
Sound Design Studios: Song Zu, Sydney, Australia
(JetBlue Airways Corporation is a major US airline headquartered in Long Island City, Queens, New York)
Brought to life by filmmaker and director Tim Bullock, Mullen Lowe Boston agency’s tongue-in-cheek film-scenario of the fictional ‘The Alright Brothers’, centres on JetBlue’s stand against mediocrity in air travel, with a superbly produced campaign message, that while bare-minimum experiences may have become the industry norm, those low standards would never “fly” on JetBlue.
6. Toyota Hilux, Retrace
Advertising Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney, Australia
Chief Creative Officer: Mike Spirkovski
Creative Team: Jack Wall, and Phillip Harkness
Agency Producer: Julianne Shelton
Production Company: Scoundrel Films, Sydney, Australia
Post Production and VFX Studios: Blockhead, Sydney, Australia.
Music and Sound Design Studios: Rumble, Sydney, Australia
Filmed on location in the small township of Paterson and surrounding countryside of the lower Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney agency’s ‘Retrace’ film-scenario is about a caring dad who retraces the routes and stops taken during an adventurous journey in a Toyota Hilux, to find his daughter’s treasured, soft-toy rabbit, that was lost somewhere.
Brought to laudable life by filmmaker and director Tim Bullock, the charming commercial has an amusing, guilty little twist in its tale, that makes for rewarding viewing.
7. 8Bar Iced Coffee, Eagle Wings
Advertising Agency: DDB, Melbourne, Australia
Chief Creative Officer: Darren Spiller
Executive Creative Director: Simon Bagnasco
Creative Director: Robbie Brammall
Art Director: Jordy Molloy
Copywriter: Toby Kennedy
Agency Executive Producer: Adrian Shapiro
Production Company: Scoundrel Films, Sydney, Australia
Director of Photography: Crighton Bone
Post Production and VFX Studios: Blockhead, Sydney, Australia
DDB Melbourne agency’s 2016, soaringly imaginative ‘8 Bar Iced Coffee’ film-scenario, was brought to life by filmmaker and director Tim Bullock, in a masterly produced and highly entertaining ‘flight of fantasy’ commercial, promoting the brand’s selling proposition of being made with real, ‘down to earth’, espresso coffee.
8. Harvey Nichols, Avoid Gift Face
Advertising Agency: adam&eveDDB, London, UK
Executive Creative Director: Ben Tollett
Chief Creative Officer: Ben Priest
Creative Team: Jo Cresswell, and Sian Coole
Agency Producer: Lucie Georgeson
Production Company: Blink, London, UK
Director of Photography: Stephen Keith-Roach
Post Production Company: MPC, London, UK
The human insight of adam&eveDDB London agency’s amusingly relatable Harvey Nichols ‘gift face’ film-scenario, directed by filmmaker Tim Bullock, features superb cast portrayals of that expectant moment of opening a gift and discovering that you hate it, but out of politeness had to pretend that you loved it by putting on your best ‘gift face’ expression.
A survey revealed that 72 percent of adults in Britain admitted to having pulled a ‘gift face’ to save the feelings of a loved one, and 63 percent admitted to wearing or using an unwanted gift after Christmas to keep up the pretence.
And according to Campaign magazine, ‘Gift Face’ was the most talked about and viewed campaign of the 2015 festive season.
9. CANAL Plus, The Commentator
Advertising Agency: BETC, Paris, France
Creative Directors: Jean-Christophe Royer, and Eric Astorgue
Creative Team: Steven Poindron, and Victor Chevalier
Production Company: Insurrection, Paris, France
Director of Photography: Marc Gomez del Moral
Directed by filmmaker Tim Bullock, BETC agency’s superbly produced commercial to promote the 15 sports channels available on France’s Premium Pay TV CANAL+, features a humorous scenario about a sports commentator becoming so over-excited that he becomes spellbound in a ‘still-frame’ mental state, is metaphorically and literally, a ‘scream’ to view.
10. Specsavers, The Vet
Advertising Agency: Specsavers Creative, The Agency, London, UK
Creative Director: Graham Daldry
Creative Team: Mark de la Rue, and Richard James
Production Company: Hungry Man, London, UK
Post Production Studios: MPC, London, UK
Sound Design: Simon Capes at Soho Square Studios, London, UK
Filmmaker and director Tim Bullock’s comedic skills come to the fore again in this entertaining ‘Should‘ve gone to Specsavers’ portrayal, of a vet calling his assistant Karen for help when he can’t find any signs of life in Phoebe the cat.
The amusing cause of the problem, revealed in the classic commercial’s ending, makes for rewardingly timeless viewing.