Resurrect A Legendary Japanese Brand
Resurrect A Legendary
Japanese Brand.
The 1965 Kawasaki W1 was the first Japanese standard-style motorcycle powerful enough to compete on the global stage. Over the decades, it was replaced with new iterations, but true enthusiasts of this retro-style bike demanded Kawasaki bring it back.
When Kawasaki embarked on reviving a new version of the classic W, they needed to not only appeal to the hard-core fans, but also to a new generation of riders that demanded modern performance with the spirit of a retro café racer.
Embrace Our Roots
Strategically, we conveyed that we couldn't simply be a Japanese version of a British retro-bike. We had a rich history to embrace and own. The W was the Japanese standard bike that started it all in Japan. The Original 1965 W1 motorcycle launched an entire era of Japanese motorcycle design. Our flag to stake, was that Britton and America weren't exclusive to the original standard bike movement. We would proudly own its heritage as the Original Icon of Japanese standard motorcycles, only reborn. But to do this, we needed to be extremely authentic, we needed to craft a story of motorcycling passion born in Japan.
One caveat, we had one month from to start to finish to pull this off on the other side of the world in Japan.
The Original Icon
My Role:
- Spearheaded strategic research, creative brief and competitive analysis
- Directed creative brainstorming sessions
- Wrote the winning “Original Icon“ campaign tagline, messaging and positioning
- Designed winning look and feel
- Concepted winning Original Icon ad spot
- Created campaign deck, developed campaign tactics and pitched the client our campaign directions
- Creative directed commercial, visual design, photography, experiential top features, social media and other supporting campaign tactics
Summary:
By completely embracing the W motorcycle's rich Japanese heritage, we paid homage to this Original Icon of bikes by uniting what riders of this style love, the best of the old, renewed. We traveled to Japan to capture the bike in its original birthplace, the streets of Osaka, Japan.
Kawasaki Japan was so enthused by our creative and our ambitious efforts to shoot in Japan within such a short timeline, they gave us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to include an original 1965 W1 pulled from their motorcycle museum in the launch spot and photography.
An Icon's Return to Glory
Summary:
Kawasaki Global was thrilled with the results of the campaign and immensely appreciated our ability to produce such stellar creative and strategy especially within the constraints of the timeline and budget. Our fans responded to both our position and creative via thousands of likes, comments and click-throughs on not only our launch ad spot, but also the social-based exploration series simply showing the W 800 traveling through Japan.
Highlights:
- Millions of video views
- 100% inventory sales
- Market share growth
