Cooler box maker Esky together with Bunnings have launched their latest TV commercial titled ‘Prey’ with the release of the new Esky Plus.

Set against a far Northern Queensland looking river backdrop, the ad features a frightfully large crocodile as it launches from the riverbed and absconds with the product.

The ad, which was conceived and written by Gorilla Communications and produced by Fussy Films ties in with the core theme of ‘tough as’, as the new Esky Plus is considered Esky’s toughest built cooler to date.

The commercial begins with an Esky Plus sitting beside a river as a voiceover presents the key features of the product.

The atmosphere is filled with the tranquil sound of water and bird calls.

But this calm natured scene is quickly cut short, as from what seems like out of nowhere a giant crocodile launches from the river and snatches the product.

There is mayhem and splashing including the crocodiles’ signature move; a death roll, shown from under the water as the croc tries to drown its prey.

Finally, the water goes still, and moments later the Esky Plus pops up out of the water victorious over its predator.

Shot on location in Sydney’s West, Fussy Films director and cinematographer Ben Kumanovski, explains the production had a heavy VFX schedule.

“The croc scene was a tricky thing to pull off,” Kumanovski said.

“Getting a high-quality 3D croc model was easy enough, but there’s not a lot of good water animation software out there.

Our VFX artist was able to track down the best water simulator and got started with it early,” he explained.

“While the shoot was only one day, the 5 seconds of VFX took two weeks to produce.”

There were also other significant challenges that Kumanovski and his team had to overcome.

“The script called for the Esky to pop up victoriously.

“To do this we needed to submerge the product in the river and then release it so that it would float to the top.

“The problem was, it’s so airtight the thing was nearly impossible to sink,” explained Kumanovski.

“Finally, during pre-production after many failed attempts, we were able to devise a solution that worked.”

Esky product and marketing director Tim Cutler said it was “a challenging shoot on Ben and his team but they did a fantastic job of overcoming the obstacles with creativity and producing another great Esky commercial”.

‘Prey’ is the second Esky commercial shot and directed by Kumanovski for Gorilla Communications.

The campaign will continue to air over the Christmas period.