Kawasaki Motors Europe Ninja ZX-10R

ROLE

Creative concept
Creative direction
Campaign production
Design
Art direction

CHAMPION

Kawasaki Motors Europe

COLLATERAL

Creative concept
Action photography
Action video
Brochures
Advertising
POS
Launch event material
Online banners
VR viewer and Application design

CHALLENGE:

The race bike market is as competitive as it gets. We had to show that Kawasaki’s Ninja ZX-10R is the closest you’ll get to a professional track experience – and help the bike retain its title as the ultimate racer.

The Ninja ZX-10R was developed with the help of the Kawasaki Racing Team. In technical and performance terms, it’s the closest you’ll get to the competition model ridden by Jonathan Rea, six-time winner of the World Superbike Championships.

But while European riders understood the Ninja’s racing potential, US audiences – preoccupied by MotoGP brands – presumed it was built for the streets, not for the track. We wanted the world to know: with the ZX-10R, you’ll get closer to the apex of every corner, closer to your limits. It’s as close as you’ll get to being on a pro racing team.

And what better way to say this than to put the bike in the hands of Jonathan Rea himself?

For our global Get Closer campaign, we created a video in which Jonathan burned around the track, knee to the ground – the definition of getting closer to the edge. With first-person close ups, viewers could practically feel themselves glancing the rumble strip. We also produced stills, saturated with Kawasaki’s distinctive green to emphasise the bike’s intensity. In these, we showed Jonathan’s eyes – not just to make the most of his celebrity but to say that racing is as much about emotion as it is about technology and technique.

Since it would have been impossible to capture the perfect images while the bike was moving, we shot them while static. Having built a rig to hold the bike as if it was rounding a corner, we asked Jonathan to sit in the right racing position. Without the centrifugal force pushing him into place, this was extremely tricky – but, ever a champion, Jonathan nailed it. The setup gave us total control of the light and background, and our attention to detail is why viewers could feel they were truly part of the scene.

The campaign included several social executions, including live Q&As with Jonathan and his teammates – more ways for viewers to get closer than ever before to their heroes on Kawasaki’s Racing Team.