The creative direction was built around excellence wherever you turn. Rather than creating a conventional corporate manufacturing film, we wanted the factory to reveal its own story through an engaging, human communication.

Visually, we wanted to capture as much of the environment as possible. Shooting primarily handheld on a full-frame 35mm lens gave the production team the freedom to move quickly through the factory and follow employees as they worked, while still capturing the scale, energy and activity around them.

People were central to this. We developed a narrative around real Kawasaki employees, using vox pop interviews to capture their experiences, opinions and pride in their work. Footage of the employees interviewed carrying out their roles connected their words directly to the processes behind the finished engines.

Production was planned as a content-led project rather than a one-off film, with the two-day shoot designed to generate a hero film, cut-downs, social assets, interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and a versatile stills library for future use.

With only 48 hours in the factory, preparation was critical. Over two months, eight weekly agency stand-ups kept the project moving, alongside client calls and collaboration with Kawasaki’s European, US and Japanese teams to develop the vision, narrative, shoot list and itinerary.

A team of five OneAgency specialists from our creative, content, client services and videography departments worked on the project, with four making the trip to Missouri. Planning covered everything from reviewing existing footage and interviewing factory line managers to mapping the plant, scheduling interviewees and coordinating specialist production equipment.

Once on site, the team worked from dawn to dusk across both shoot days, making the most of every opportunity within a live manufacturing environment. Shift patterns, lunch breaks, deliveries and production schedules couldn’t stop for a film crew, so the itinerary had to be detailed enough to keep everyone moving, but flexible enough to adapt in real time.

The scale of the task was significant, but the team never blinked. Detailed preparation, clear roles and constant communication meant we could respond to the realities of the factory without compromising the creative vision or the amount of content captured.

The factory’s technical processes were important, but the people gave the story its emotional connection. We captured 18 vox pop interviews across the plant exploring what employees do and why they care about doing it well.

Alongside the precision of areas such as quality control – combining expert manual inspections with laser-guided checks – we captured the community, commitment and pride running throughout the factory and, perhaps most importantly, why Kawasaki’s target audience of professional landscapers should care.

All of the content captured on the shoot has formed a lasting bank of versatile, authentic content to support brand messaging, fuel ongoing social activity and demonstrate the value of integrated content creation.
 
On-location filming and interviews, a mix of factory walkthroughs, trend-led reels, behind-the-scenes footage and team vox-pops provides material for organic social, short-form video and paid promotion.

Publishing one to three organic posts a month across Facebook, Instagram and YouTube Shorts keeps the content fresh without overwhelming audiences. Budget is then directed towards the strongest-performing videos to extend reach beyond existing followers.

Eight weeks of preparation. 48 hours on site. 18 employee interviews. 250 high-resolution stills. Six hours of professional camera and aerial footage from a OneAgency team of five. 

But the numbers tell only part of the story. The real achievement was turning an intense two-day production inside a huge working factory into a rich, carefully curated content library that will support Kawasaki’s marketing for years to come.

The result is a kinetic, immersive visual style that demonstrates the scale and sophistication of Kawasaki’s manufacturing operation while connecting the processes inside the factory with the reliability customers experience in the field. More importantly, it tells the human story behind manufacturing excellence.

The project has generated new content ideas, highlighted potential employee stories and deepened OneAgency’s understanding of Kawasaki’s manufacturing expertise – creating value well beyond the original two-day brief.

From the initial briefing and stakeholder management through to creative direction, production planning, interviewing, videography and art direction, OneAgency managed the project as an integrated content programme.

Our understanding of Kawasaki’s audiences was central to the approach and meant we could work as an extension of Kawasaki’s team rather than simply as a production supplier.