For the 2024 Tacoma campaign, Toyota wanted to spotlight authentic adventurers with their truck at the center of their journey. The essence of the Tacoma is that it gives drivers freedom to test their limits and master their passions, and, with this campaign, Toyota specifically wanted to reach women who are motivated by a desire for independence, a love of challenges, and a need to push themselves to a new level.
These values are intrinsic to the creative teams behind nature content on BBC America, especially the fearless cinematographers who bring the natural world to our screens. Coincidentally, AMCN Content Room’s team had long desired to spotlight a female nature cinematographer in front of the camera after learning they make up only about 2% of the field. These are the women who are breaking new ground and chasing unique adventures, and whose stories speak perfectly to the goals for Tacoma’s campaign.
The consummate representation of this ethos is found in our star, Ann Johnson Prum—an award-winning wildlife cinematographer who has filmed the world over, and all while building her family and starting her own business. With this film, we set out to follow her on a new adventure: traversing the mountains of Arizona with her son in search of elusive nesting hummingbirds.
As an added bonus, we were able to tap Indigenous filmmaker Shaandiin Tome to direct this project. Shaandiin stands by this spirit in her own life and work (and, unsurprisingly, is a proud Tacoma driver herself!).
Aligning with the premiere of the new BBCA natural history program “Mammals,” Content Room and Toyota collaborated to create custom content that shined a light on a very specific type of mammal: a seasoned nature filmmaker seeking adventure. The result was “Bird’s Eye View,” a short film that follows wildlife cinematographer Ann Johnson Prum on a journey to document nesting hummingbirds in the Arizona desert.
In this film, we see Ann and her son load up the Tacoma with film equipment and head into the mountains of Arizona in search of the greatest prize: a thicket of hummingbird nests. For their journey, they traveled through beautiful landscapes off the beaten path to high elevations in the American southwest as they reminisce on what has brought them to this point in their lives. Watching them traverse the arid desert terrain into gorgeous mountains, with areas of lusher landscapes abuzz with wildlife and wildflowers, is its own adventure.
The risk with docu-style content is apparent: what if nature wasn’t on our side, and Ann was not able to locate the easy-to-miss nests? What if we were too early and were only able to find eggs, or too late and the newborns had already ventured into the world? Fortunately, as she explores in the film, Ann knows this job is as much about patience as it is a sense of risk and adventure. Ultimately, this determination and patience pay off as we see Ann capture the perfect frames of these swift, elusive birds.
And while the prize is utterly captivating, it really is Ann’s process—paired with Shaandiin’s nuanced eye and graceful pacing—that creates the film’s rich tone. Ann’s prowess comes from her ability to align with nature’s rhythm, and the results are powerful. In the end, the film reminds us that, even more than seeking raw adventure, patience and living in the moment are integral to feeling the full scope of the human experience.
The full campaign came to life through a full-length short film and bespoke ancillary social campaign aimed to inform and entertain our followers. Our team tailored each deliverable’s distribution with the formats that best complimented its creative across linear, digital, and social platforms. Notable results for each platform include:
Linear
Digital
Social
