The Swing That Took Over Toyota’s Baseball Ad

Sometimes I get to the end of an ad and catch myself asking a question.

“What was that selling?”

Toyota’s 2015 G’s Baseball Party did that to me. I remembered the scene long after I had forgotten what was supposed to be in the foreground.

The ad starts with a neighborhood. Ordinary people are going about their business until a G’s button brings a baseball game to life. A ball appears, a bat comes around and the street becomes a field. It takes a while before there is much for a car buyer to look at.

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A car ad with the feel of a baseball spot

The first thing I thought was that it might be selling something you could use on a baseball field.

A bat, perhaps. Or a sportswear brand.

The people in the spot move like ballplayers. The Toyota name and the connection to its G’s range arrive much later than the game itself.

Then it clicks that this is a car commercial, and I have another question.

“What did that baseball game have to do with the car?”

The production company’s premise was that the G’s button makes people play in earnest. I can see the idea of putting some sport into a daily routine. What I remember, though, is what happened once somebody threw a pitch.

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The cut that changed the center of the ad

A woman in office clothes turns and takes a full cut at a pitch. The ball takes off, and for a few seconds the commercial is about nothing except the quality of that swing.

There is no strain in it. The timing, the turn through the ball and the follow-through all look like movements she already knew before she got to the set.

The obvious question is whether she really played.

The batter was Ami Inamura, who had played baseball before making the commercial. When you see the swing at full speed, her experience is hard to miss.

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What the “godlike swing” went on to do

The clip earned the Japanese nickname kami swing, a “godlike swing.” It turned the ad into an introduction to Inamura and made her a natural figure to follow into ceremonial first pitches and baseball television.

For the ad, that is a curious kind of success. People remember it and share it. Ask me what was distinctive about the car, and the first thing I see is still an office worker driving the ball.

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What the teaser leaves with you

The campaign held my attention. The harder question is what I could recall about the G’s range after the spot ended. The swing was always the first answer.

A teaser can leave something unanswered and still lead you back to the thing it is selling. Here the moment that makes you want to know more leads straight to the person who swung the bat.

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Who gets to keep the scene?

Baseball Party is worth watching for the timing of that handover. You can feel the instant at which the scene gives the viewer something more specific to remember than the car.

• A scene stronger than the product.
• A performer whose skill needs no explanation.
• Whose story is the commercial by the end?

That is the question I think of when I watch it again.