Caterham – Japan Press launch

The Challenge

Tie together Caterham Cars and Caterham F1 Team to help communicate Caterham’s brand values of accessible fun and lightweight performance using Caterham F1 Team’s new 2014 driver, Kamui Kobayashi.

Press launch of the new Caterham Seven 160 to Japanese media and raise brand awareness in Caterham Cars’ second largest export market using Kamui Kobayashi. The new model is a significant addition to the range available in Japan due to its Kei car status.

Fan Insight

Kamui Kobayashi has a huge profile in Japan. His fans donated over £1,000,000 to the ‘Support Kamui’ fund to get him a seat in the 2014 F1 season.

Involving Kamui in the launch of the Seven 160 and creating Caterhams Cars content featuring him driving the product would have vast appeal both in Japan and the UK.

Creative Solution

By teaming up Kamui Kobayashi and Caterham Cars we were able to create strong video and photographic content for editorial, digital and social use ahead of the Caterham Seven 160 launch event in Japan.

We also created a YouTube video with Caterham’s halo product, the most powerful Seven available – 620R, to help increase brand appeal to both motorsport and car fans.

The launch event its self was held at the British Embassy in Tokyo – a distinctly British venue – which further showcased Caterham’s UK heritage. Kamui spoke at the event, hosted a Q&A session and revealed the car during a photo call.

The Results

150 x Japanese media guests attended the Tokyo launch event:

• Broadcast, National, print & on-line
• Resulting in coverage in National press
• 70,000 YouTube views in the first week