Caterpillar: Turning a Product Launch into a Global Brand Moment
For Caterpillar’s biggest excavator introduction in more than two decades, we helped take the launch beyond traditional heavy-equipment marketing and connected Cat® with one of the world’s biggest entertainment franchises to reach new audiences and drive measurable demand.
THE CHALLENGE
The Next Generation Cat Excavators represented more than a new product. Caterpillar was also consolidating its product lineup and expanding into 10 key global markets, all while working to attract thousands of new customers.
That called for more than a traditional product introduction. Caterpillar needed to create worldwide awareness and excitement, engage existing customers and new prospects, reach younger audiences and ultimately turn that attention into qualified leads across regions and dealer networks.
THE SOLUTION
The Next Generation Excavators deserved a bigger stage so we built a global campaign around Caterpillar’s relationship with Paramount Pictures’ Transformers: The Last Knight. The “Rise to the Challenge” campaign connected the film’s Autobots and the people who use Cat equipment every day: skilled, determined professionals taking on difficult work.
Our role spanned pitching Paramount and facilitating the relationship to global strategy, creative development and execution of the campaign system and assets for regional adaptation and activation across multiple business units.
Service lines activated
Strategy
Branding
Experiential
Motion Media
Social Media
Marketing Automation
Paid Media
Analytics
Deliverables
Global campaign strategy
Brand collaboration strategy
Campaign identity and messaging
Global creative toolkit
Digital experiences and content
Video and motion assets
Paid and social media
Dealer and regional activation support
Lead generation and marketing automation
THE OUTCOMES
The campaign gave Caterpillar a way to reach well beyond its traditional audience while supporting the business objectives behind one of its most important product introductions. It generated marketing-qualified leads, created opportunities for dealer conversations and introduced the brand to audiences worldwide.
