jnr. Promotes Motorhomes With “Alien Invasion, Three Butts, and a Probe”

Aliens invading a family’s motorhome holiday star in jnr.’s latest, animated spot designed to shake up the category and build awareness for Tourism Holdings Limited’s (thl) Apollo Motorhomes.

‘Check out of The Ordinary’ was produced by Yukfoo Animation Studio, Clockwork Films, and directed and animated by John Robertson – who has worked with the likes of Netflix, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon, and most recently was a character design lead on ‘Koala Man’.

It follows two aliens who appear in a family’s motorhome while they’re mid-road trip, and cause a stir. The aliens question what salami (“sa-lah-my”) is in the fridge, ask to use the shower, and inquire about eating the family’s cat, which is actually a dog.

The unusual idea was about “permission”, Jenny Mak, executive creative director and partner at jnr., exclusively told LBB.

“Permission to break routine, rethink what a holiday can be, and realise that the extraordinary doesn’t have to be far away – it just needs a different point of view.”

The motorhome category feels “familiar”, but jnr. spotted the opportunity to inject it with “freedom, discovery, and unpredictability,” Jenny added.

“Motorhome holidays are inherently extraordinary, yet they’re often perceived as complicated, intimidating, or simply not for ‘people like me’.

“We kept asking ourselves why anyone would choose an ordinary holiday when something far more extraordinary is right there, just down the road.

“The aliens became a simple storytelling device to see the experience through fresh eyes, reacting to the motorhome with curiosity and surprise.”

Animation was similarly chosen for its unexpectedness in the category, jnr. managing director and founder John Marshall said.

“[It] also allowed us to push the humour to the ‘nth’ degree, all the while delivering a range of proof-points to address some of the fears our audience might have about a motorhome holiday.

“Now, all they have to worry about is an alien invasion, three butts, and a probe.”

​Amy Neave, producer at Yukfoo Animation Studio, explained the film was shot as a “short narrative scene rather than a conventional advertisement”.

“The aim was to make it feel like a moment from an animated series, where the humour comes from how the characters interact with the world, not from forcing jokes or overt messaging.

“We are used to building comedy through character performance, timing, and visual observation, which translated naturally into this format.”

The team was keen to create a world seen “through the eyes of martians, treating normal objects and spaces as if they were strange discoveries.

“That directly influenced the design process, pushing us towards expressive character animation, detailed environments, and a contained, story-driven world that could be explored visually rather than explained through dialogue.”

Noticeably, both aliens wear lanyards around its necks, despite being in a presumably unfamiliar world on earth. Animator and director John Robertson said this was a “small but deliberate” inclusion designed to humanise the aliens and “ground the sci-fi concept in something recognisable”.

“It introduces a subtle visual gag by placing an ordinary, corporate object into an absurd context.

“Symbolically, it shifts the aliens from being generic creatures to feeling more like workers or observers, which makes the character more relatable and enhances the comedy through repeat viewing."

Making the aliens relatable also helped to “sell the dream”, which was one of two key strategic objectives, Ryan O’Connell, chief strategy officer and founder at jnr., said.

The second was “reduce the fears” and remove perceived barriers to a motorhome holiday “by highlighting the rational proof-points of our products that help overcome the nervousness people have about motorhomes.”

Rebecca McKenzie, thl’s head of brand and marketing, hopes the campaign will encourage “confidence and trust” among Australians and Kiwis to take a road trip with Apollo Motorhomes.

She also wanted to “build a long tail pipeline of demand” for the brand, “creating holiday category preference and brand awareness.”

“The strategic foundations in previous years focused mostly on creating category preference for road trip holidays amongst Australians,” she said.

“This continues to be a focus but there is a greater emphasis in demonstrating ‘how to motorhome’; building confidence with active considerers that this is the right holiday for them, and they can trust Apollo to deliver an extraordinary holiday.”