Mazda Launches New Brand Campaign In Europe

DARTFORD, UNITED KINGDOM – March 7, 2011: This year’s Geneva Motor Show was the venue for the world premiere of Mazda’s new multi-channel brand campaign that will tell the fascinating story of Mazda using new media forms. The first of these forms is a new website (www.mazdastories.eu) that offers a deep-dive into the Mazda brand and the secrets behind its enduring success.

For instance, how could a carmaker that is relatively small have had such a large influence on the automotive industry? One of the answers is Mazda’s history of defying convention; of thinking outside the box. In one video on the website, Masahiro Moro, Executive Officer for Global Sales and Marketing, talks about how overcoming the challenge of rebuilding the city in 1945 left an indelible mark on the people of Hiroshima, and became an important part Mazda’s own spirit.

Defy convention successfully, and innovative products will follow
Only Mazda could work secretly for nearly a decade on a lightweight roadster, when nobody was making them anymore, and then surprise everybody with the diminutive MX-5 sportscar which amazed the world with its outstanding driving dynamics. At the new website, Takao Kijima, former program manager for MX-5, explains how the concept of Jinba Ittai – the oneness between a rider and his horse – was adopted for MX-5 and was instrumental in achieving this model’s fun-to-drive responsiveness.

Mazda would continue to take up the challenge of lightweight construction after the MX-5, and 18 years later introduced the current Mazda2 hatchback, which changed the automotive industry trend by being up to 100 kg lighter, stronger, safer and more dynamic than its predecessor. In another video, Mazda2 Program Manager, Shigeo Mizuno, tells how this amazing feat was accomplished.

“The new brand campaign and its website,” said Jeff Guyton, President and CEO of Mazda Motor Europe, “is our distinctive approach to story-telling. It is the first phase of a multi-channel campaign that will describe what’s great about Mazda products, while giving customers a host of reasons to believe in Mazda and its people.”

Mazda’s 10 significant stories and short biographies of those who tell them can be viewed at www.mazdastories.eu. The website, which goes ‘live’ on 1 April, will be updated regularly with interactive features, competitions, pictures, interesting new content and videos about the past and the future of the brand, along with stories explaining Mazda values.