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TOP GEAR AMERICA

Content Marketing

I worked as a Creative Director for the Top Gear America Season Two campaign and helped develop the social strategy, design direction, and brand strategy for the campaign. I also worked as a copywriter, and produced and edited several social pieces.

What I loved about the Top Gear America campaign was the focus on the hilarious antics of the talent, as well as the amazing supercars featured in the series. Handling the Top Gear brand is no easy task, but balancing the BBC brand along with the MotorTrend brand allowed the campaign to resonate with traditional American motor fans instead of trying to convert core BBC fans. 

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The strategy was to enter the market by focusing on talent due to the fact that the series was only in it's second season, it was an inherited title tied directly to another brand and to other talent, and to help drive awareness of the niche streaming service "MotorTrend+". 

 

The initial teaser assets have a simple and straight to the point reminder of the shows hero talent; Dax, Rob and Jethro from season one. Both key art and video focus on their return, but the video is able to showcase the jaw-dropping rides available in the series as well. 

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Social Motion Poster, Creative Director

Partner: The Refinery

The follow-up launch video puts a lot more focus on the storylines, stand-out vehicles and camaraderie between the talent. The key tactic here was balancing the featured vehicles in a way that focused more on what an American automotive enthusiast would car about. The answer to that challenge; develop some bada** nicknames for the show talent and kick-off the spot with some crazy trucks lifted four-wheelers. 

Teaser Promo :60

Creative Director, producer, copywriter

Partner: The Refinery

Launch Promo :60

Creative Director, producer, copywriter

Partner: The Refinery

It should be mentioned that the spot does balance out with some time showing off the supercars and classics featured in the series as well. The graphics build on the previous season's promo campaign by injecting some forced 3D effects, and a little bit of grit that modernizes and give the brand a little more attitude for the target automotive audience. 

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Before (left) was the previous season's look, the after (right) was where we landed. I thought the previous season's look needed to be updated to help push the high production quality, and to help customize the brand look to appeal to core fans of car shows. The design team at The Refinery worked on the updated look per this direction.

Where things get interesting is the tactics deployed across PAID & social on this campaign. I had to deliver for YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok with both organic and PAID creative required.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top Gear America Season 2 FB/IG Videos

"The Places We'll Go"

MotorTrend
"The Places We'll Go"
Search video...
"The Places We'll Go"

"The Places We'll Go"

01:00
Play Video
"Top Cars"

"Top Cars"

01:00
Play Video
What to Expect?

What to Expect?

01:00
Play Video
"Bumper Car Bromance"

"Bumper Car Bromance"

00:59
Play Video

Social video series

Creative Director, writer, producer

Partner: The Refinery

PAID Video

Creative Director, Writer, Producer

Partner: The Refinery

We broke down our deliveries by platform and best strategy for each in the following ways:

  • PAID - We used short :15 promos that mixed high intensity footage with on-screen text in order to optimize for social or mobile viewers. We also incorporated a persistent CTA to ensure we conveyed the desired action clearly. .

  • Facebook/Instagram - a mix of short message/CTA focused videos on the PAID side that utilized a mix of images of recognizable talent (Dax/Rob) and highly captivating shots in video (explosions, jumps, exotic sports cars). On the organic side, short-form video with talent features and exciting content from the show that appealed more directly to automotive fans. For example, on PAID, it's all supercars and explosions, for organic; I'd mix in some cheap builds or cars that would evoke nostalgia in car fans. One thing I found interesting is we actually dialed back on explosions for organics due to the fact that car fans found them "disrespectful to cars." A lot of simple messaging static ads​ were used across PAID and social too. For PAID, carousel units with visually stunning vehicle or screenshots. For organic, simple CTAs and talent or car focused imagery were used for countdown units or sign-up pushes. 

  • TikTok - For TikTok, I pulled completely away from traditional storytelling and instead chose to focus in on building a beautiful edit with emotion-inducing music. The goal was to create something visually stunning versus an obvious ad or piece of marketing material. The bugatti creative ended up being the most successful social creative of the campaign.

I worked with the incredible team at The Refinery alongside my supervising producer Jeff Kent for the promo campaign and Facebook/instagram videos. I produced and edited the TikTok videos.

Top Gear America TikTok Videos

McLaren for TikTok

MotorTrend
McLaren for TikTok
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McLaren for TikTok

McLaren for TikTok

00:32
Play Video
TRX for TikTok

TRX for TikTok

00:26
Play Video
Bugatti for TikTok

Bugatti for TikTok

00:30
Play Video

TikTok Videos

Creative Director, Editor

The campaign also received episodic support throughout the season. My creative strategy on these episodics were to ensure that there was a nugget of automotive curiosity inside each piece in addition to showcasing the incredible production quality and hilarious antics of the talent. 

Top Gear America Episodics

Episode 1 Promo

MotorTrend
Episode 1 Promo
Search video...
Episode 1 Promo

Episode 1 Promo

00:30
Play Video
Episode 3 Promo

Episode 3 Promo

00:30
Play Video
Episode 6 Promo

Episode 6 Promo

00:30
Play Video

Episodic Video

Creative Director, Writer, Producer

Partner: The Refinery

There were also several pieces of key art created for the campaign. I was a stakeholder in the creative development of these assets, but was not as hand's on as I was on the motion pieces. My main role was ensuring consistency across static and video pieces alongside my phenomenal partner, Ti Tong. 

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Key Art

Partner: The Refinery

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