Maserati

Pitching the journeys

What sets the Maserati Gran Turismo apart? That was our focus. Over five days, three of us, with support from Big Radical, developed a campaign narrative that spotlighted the Maserati GT.

The first journey reflected Maserati’s founding entrepreneurial spirit.

The second was a tour across Europe, inspired by the meaning of Gran Turismo.

The third journey was for the audience, those eager to learn more about the Maserati GT.

Design Process

Key insights

The campaign concept featured touchpoints, including an app for engaging with the car’s sound and live interaction with the journey. However, we faced time constraints—3 months for the entire campaign—and won the pitch just 1 month before launch. Technical and budget limitations further restricted the original vision.

Direction

The Grand Tour, historically an educational journey for young aristocrats, inspired our design for Tales of Gran Turismo. Each episode featured a well-known guest sharing stories of their success, connecting their journey to Maserati’s entrepreneurial spirit.

The campaign used social media to drive traffic to the website.

Designing

With tight deadlines and a limited budget, we built the site using Maserati’s CMS, Magnolia. We adapted to the system’s constraints and designed flexible wireframes to accommodate last-minute changes.

To guide production, we developed Storyboard Pillars linking the guests’ stories to Maserati’s values and trip locations. These storyboards served as shot lists for videographers, and we wrote questions to prompt engaging interviews.

Final design

Outcomes

We delivered three key elements for Tales of Gran Turismo:

• A strategic plan and project management framework.
• Video episodes showcasing storytelling tied to Maserati’s values.
• A CMS-based website hosting the videos and content by Maserati’s marketing agency.

Close collaboration with the marketing team ensured seamless social media integration, promoting the GT launch and tour.

Lessons

• Use compelling research-based storytelling.
• Appeal to the senses when pitching ideas.
• Set clear agendas to manage expectations.
• Capture and share meeting outcomes for alignment.
• Send follow-ups to keep stakeholders on track.