Last year I gave some seminars in New Zealand. After the seminar one of the participants there in Wellington sent me the link to the Toyota TV ad above (filmed in NZ and shown in NZ and Australia). As she told me, the ad at the time captured the public imagination and caused a bit of controversy. She said that people were even sad when they learned the dog died years after the ad ran. Humor, which surely can be misunderstood, is a powerful connection when it works (and is memorable). She said that the ad's use of humour, unexpectedness and a high degree of authenticity was quite effective at the time (and there we were talking about "the bugger ad" years after it had ran). Almost no words used at all. Simple...and effective.

 The ad gets a mention here on Wiki in the "bugger" discussion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugger