Invicta Racing

Campaign shoot for Formula 2 racing team

For US watch company Invicta, Capital Advertising's crew was active at the beautiful estate of Holkham Hall in England in recent months. The watch brand has a great affinity with motorsport and has therefore sponsored a team in the Formula 2 racing class since 2023. From 2024, this racing team will also bear the name of its sponsor: Invicta Racing. To bring this move to the attention of racing and watch enthusiasts around the world, Invicta engaged its regular marketing agency, Capital Advertising. The Miami-based watch company and the Den Bosch-based agency have been working together for almost 10 years.

Invicta Racing driver stands in the hallway of Holkham Hall castle
Ober serveert 2 Invicta Racing helmen

Historic country house setting to shoot with racing cars
For the campaign, the crew travelled not to a race track, but to an English country house, several hundred kilometres above London and close to the coast. The Holkham Hall estate was laid out in the early 17th century by Thomas Coke, Earl of Leicester of Holkham. The ceiling in the manor's Marble Hall is a copy of the ceiling of the famous Pantheon in Rome. Hanging on the walls of the drawing room are works by luminaries Anthony van Dyck and Peter Paul Rubens, among others.

Main actors this time were not master painters, but talented drivers Gabriel Bortoleto and Kush Maini. The contrast between the vibe of the drivers and their cars and the aristocratic aura of English history, made it an impressive campaign.

Invicta Racing car is outside in spotlight for Holkham Hall

Racing talent from Brazil
Just 19 years old, Gabriel Bortoleto caused a stir by winning Formula 3 in 2023. The Brazilian from Sao Paulo is a great talent, but in his modesty, he says he is not yet anywhere near 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 the highest racing class. But in 2024, there is no Brazilian driver with a seat in an F1 racing car. Therefore, many eyes are on Bortoleto, who has been part of the McLaren Driver Development Programme, Formula 1 team McLaren's training programme, for a few months now.

A fan base of more than 1 billion people
Kush Maini is also a very talented driver. By 2023, he was already competing in Formula 2. His achievements were enough reason to include him in the Alpine Academy, the training programme of Formula 1 team Alpine. As a driver from Bangalore, India, many eyes are on him. Not just from the many racing fans worldwide. With overriding interest, India's 1 billion-plus inhabitants are also following Kush's exploits.

Campaign for Invicta Racing
The production at Holkham Hall eventually took three days. The campaign team numbered around 20 people in total, not including staff from Invicta Racing and support staff from the estate. In addition to Capital Advertising's production staff, they included two photography teams, two video teams and a specialist lighting team. A whole kit came with them from the Netherlands. The electricity facilities 0p the estate, for example, were not sufficient for a shoot of this magnitude. Therefore, a specially equipped bus with a generator took the crossing from Rotterdam to England.

Invicta Racing Coureurs poseren bij formule 2 auto voor Holkham Hall

An extraordinary international collaboration
The collaboration with Invicta Watch is very special. As a marketing agency from the Netherlands, we have been working with this watch brand from Miami, USA, for many years. Earlier campaigns were developed with, for example, Kermit and Miss Piggy from the Muppets. We were part of partnerships with celebrities such as Eva Longoria, Shaquille O'Neal, Gabrielle Union and Jason Taylor and ran campaigns with Marvel and Star Wars. Campaigns with a sports flavour were with football team Las Vegas Raiders and top leagues MLB, NFL and NHL. In 2022, we had the creative lead for the campaign with Formula 2 driver Juan Manuel Correa. And now, therefore, a continuation with Invicta Racing's campaign and F2 drivers Bortoleto and Maini. It can rightly be called a campaign without borders: a Swiss watch brand, a client from Miami, a country house in England, drivers from Brazil and India and a marketing agency from Den Bosch.

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