Minivans aren't exactly considered cool, but minivan-driving parents everywhere are surely taking pride in their rides thanks to the YouTube sensation "Swagger Wagon."
The music video,
which had racked up more than 2.6 million views and counting just three weeks after being posted on YouTube in early May, is part of a Saatchi & Saatchi LA-created campaign for the Toyota Sienna
minivan line featuring the amusingly self-absorbed Sienna parents, who have spent months bragging about their awesome parenting skills and their stylish Toyota Sienna in a series of comedic
slice-of-life clips posted on Sienna's YouTube channel.
Directed by Jody Hill, the "Swagger Wagon" music video finds the endearingly boastful duo (played by Rachael Drummond and Brian
Huskey) singing - actually, rapping - the praises of their Toyota Sienna (more specifically the Sienna SE) and, of course, boasting about what great parents they are.
The laid-back, West
Coast-style track produced by music collective Black Iris is funny (the actors are lip-synching to the voices of Black Iris composer Justin Bailey and his girlfriend Caitlin Orrison, by the way), but
it's no joke. In fact, it's catchy, and you'd have to think even Snoop Dogg would be impressed. "We wanted to create a very legitimate-sounding hip-hop track," Saatchi creative director Erich Funke
says.
The lyrics, composed by the Saatchi creative team in collaboration with Black Iris, are priceless, peppered with mentions of #1 dad mugs, tea parties and bake sales. "I kiss their
boo-boos, clean doggie doo-doos, cut the crust off PB&Js, chill the Yoo-Hoos," the mom declares at one point in the tune, which has proven so popular Saatchi created a website, ToyotaSwaggerWagon.com,
via which fans can download MP3s of the song as well as ringtones.
Given the success of the video and song, might Saatchi create a follow up to "Swagger Wagon?" "Initially, the music video was a
one off to launch the [Sienna] SE," Funke says, "but considering the success that it's enjoyed, I wouldn't rule out that possibility."