Pitching the journeys

What makes the Maserati Gran Turismo different to the other cars? That was the premise of our pitch. During 5 days a 3 of us with the support of Big Radical management, worked to shape a narrative that could hold together the touchpoints of the campaign. That narrative was to make the journey the light that beams over the Maserati GT.

Firstly, there was a historical journey which referred to the entrepreneurial spirit that the Maserati brothers displayed when they founded and carried the company.

Secondly, was the travelling to explore different parts of Europe on a tour. The meaning of Gran Turismo comes from that practice.

Thirdly, is the journey of the people that are interested in discovering more about the Maserati GT.

Design Process

Key insights

In the pitch concept, the release of the GT used different touch points, the app where people could hear the sound, play with the audience using the app could interact and engage live with the car, the views and guests travelling with the GT through Europe.

Unfortunately, most of the initial ideas presented on the pitch hit reality. We didn't have much time to create the campaign. We were given 3 months. This was also the first time we won a campaign pitch. Due to technical limitations, budget and slow approval speed, the project came to us 1 month before the actual release.

Direction

The Grand Tour was a cultural tour of Europe formerly undertaken, especially in the 18th century, by a young man of the upper classes as a part of their education.

To honor the initial concept of Grand Tour, we designed Tales of Gran Turismo, a Maserati's subdomain site, designed to celebrate the 2018 Gran Turismo by taking the car on a Grand Tour across Europe.

The Grand Tour counted with a different famous guest in each episode sharing stories about their successful careers and how they related back to Maserati's entrepreneurial spirit and brand values.

The campaign consisted of using social media to drive traffic to the Tales of Gran Turismo campaign site.

Designing

Due to timing and a limited budget, we had to design the Gran Turismo campaign site in Maserati's CMS, Magnolia. We learned how to use the different types of modules used on their global site, including the limitations. With that knowledge, we managed to shape loose wireframes for the different stages of the campaign.

That would allow us to be flexible if any last minute changes or change of plans happened at different stages of the campaign.

To produce each episode we created Storyboard Pillars. Those pillars would allow us to interlink the personal stories of the talent to certain Maserati's values and the location of the trip.

Based on the Story Pillars, we would shape a broad storyboard to give to the videographers and production assistant. The storyboards would serve as the reference to determine a shot list. We also wrote a series of questions to prompt conversations between the interviewer and talent.

Final design

Outcomes

We delivered 3 elements that created the Maserati Tales of Gran Turismo website.

• Firstly the strategic thinking and project management capacity that allowed us to create a visualised plan for the involved teams.
• Secondly was the videos of the legs, containing the storytelling based on the principles we learned from Maserati and filmed with our creative direction.
• Thirdly was the CMS website, that contained the videos we created and the written content by Maserati's marketing agency.

Our close collaboration with Maserati's marketing agency ensured that the posts across different social media platforms linked to the Gran Turismo website. The posts announced updates on events related to the GT launch and the legs of the Gran Turismo across Europe.

Lessons

• To use compelling storytelling based on research.
• Tell a story that appeals to the senses to pitch ideas.
• Set clear agendas for meetings, so people have expectations and can prepare in advance.
• Capture and visualise what is discussed on the meetings to bring everyone involved to the same page.
• Writing follow-ups to the meetings to remind stakeholders were we were.