Invicta Racing
Photo shoot for campaign Formula 2 team
17th century mansion set for shoot with racing cars
For the campaign, the crew travelled not to a race track, but to an English country house, close to the coast, several hundred kilometres north of London. The manor house Holkham Hall was built in the early 17th century by Thomas Coke, Earl of Leicester of Holkham. The ceiling in the Marble Hall is a copy of the ceiling of the Pantheon in Rome. Hanging on the walls of the salon are works by Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, among others.
Headliners this time were not painters Rubens and Van Dyck, but talented drivers Gabriel Bortoleto and Kush Maini. The contrast between the vibe of the racing cars and the drivers and the aristocratic aura of English history, made it a very striking campaign.
Brazilian racing talent
Only 19 years old, Gabriel Bortoleto caused a stir by becoming the 2023 FIA F3 champion. The Sao Paolo-born Brazilian is a great talent, but in his modesty, he says he is still far away from the achievements of his great examples from Brazil, such as Ayrton Senna, Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet, Rubens Barrichello and Felipe Massa. Brazil has many racing heroes and a rich history in Formula 1. In 2024, however, there is no Brazilian driver, who has a seat in an F1 racing car. Therefore, many eyes are on Bortoleto, who has been included in the McLaren Driver Development Programme, the training programme of McLaren's Formula 1 team, since a few months.
A constituency of more than 1 billion people
Kush Maini is also a very talented driver. By 2023, Maini was already competing in Formula 2. His achievements were enough reason to join the Alpine Academy, the training programme of Alpine's Formula 1 team. As an Indian driver born in Bangalore, many eyes are on him. Not just from many racing fans worldwide. India's 1 billion-plus population follows Kush with more than average interest.
Campaign Invicta Racing
The shoot at Holkham Hall ended up lasting three days. The crew totalled around 20 people, excluding Invicta Racing employees and accompanying staff at Holkham Hall. Besides the Capital Sports production team, they included, for example, two photography teams, two video teams and a special lighting team. A lot of equipment came with them from the Netherlands. The electricity facilities at the manor, for instance, were insufficient for a big shoot like this. Therefore, a special bus with a generator took the crossing from Rotterdam to England.
A special international partnership
The collaboration with Invicta Watch is very special. As a Dutch marketing agency, we have been working with this Miami-based watch company for many years. Previous campaigns included, for example, Kermit and Miss Piggy from the Muppets. We worked together with celebrities such as Eva Longoria, Shaquille O'Neal, Gabrielle Union and Jason Taylor and ran campaigns with, for example, Marvel and Star Wars. Campaigns with a sports theme were with Las Vegas Raiders, MLB, NFL and NHL. In 2022, we were responsible for the campaign with Formula 2 driver Juan Manuel Correa. And now, a follow-up with Invicta Racing's campaign with drivers Bortoleto and Maini. It was in every way a campaign without limits: a Swiss watch brand, a client from Miami, a country house in England, drivers from Brazil and India and an agency from Den Bosch.
