Our photography reflects who we are as a brand; our personality, our beliefs and our products. Photography should aim to be fresh, optimistic, relatable. It's another way to connect with our New Zealanders and like everything we do, is a representation of Let’s Go Places.

Here are some broad guidelines for capturing places, people and products. Undoubtedly from time to time campaigns will require specific photography considerations, in these cases the spirit of the following principles and our tone should be applied.

Chosen locations should look to capture New Zealandness. Whether that place is the raw beauty of our big landscapes, the green of our native bush, the charm of a small town or the colour of a muralled brick wall. Making all our marketing communications feel of New Zealand is what photography can help us do.

We always aim for natural scenes and avoid making cars in environments look too retouched or cut and pasted in to scenes. We avoid having vehicles in places that suggest any disrespect for the environment and protected or sacred sites. We never disregard safety or driving codes.

Our vehicles (and other products) are shot in environments or against white backgrounds for clear-cutting. Highlighting the driver’s side is often preferred, otherwise shoot the angle that best conveys the unique attributes of the vehicle. Avoid lens distortion, hotspots and ensure an accurate representation of the vehicle colour is captured.

When featuring vehicles in campaign assets, consideration should be given as to the number plate used on the vehicles.

If vehicles are shown in a natural environment then genuine number plates are preferred. If vehicles are on display or feature in a non-real world environment, then name plates should be used.

Privacy should also be considered when shooting vehicles.

If the vehicle shown is registered to a company then no further action is needed, but if the vehicle is privately owned then consent needs to be agreed. If consent isn’t given then an alternative plate should be used instead.

For channels such as the website or social, we will also need to capture our vehicles in their natural habitat, giving a sense of the lifestyle they both fit into and make possible.

This is where we showcase the places and adventures a Toyota vehicle can take you, enabling viewers to experience a highly meaningful Let’s Go Places lifestyle.

It’s important to help the car look it’s absolute best too, making sure the model stands out in its environment. For example, placing a bright-coloured car in a neutral background, or finding a bright-coloured graffiti wall to place behind a more neutral-coloured car.

If we include people, we should get a sense of a story being played out. For example, people heading off to do the activity in the place the vehicle has brought them, or loading the car with interesting things that hint at where they’re going.