With the automotive industry constantly evolving and competition growing, Mazda’s new platform, “Move and Be Moved,” aims to emotionally connect with consumers by emphasizing life’s meaningful moments.

The campaign’s 30-second video highlights customers doing more than simply driving the brand’s cars; instead it features people engaged with loved ones or pursuing their goals.

“We are striving to capture an outlook on life that we share with our owners and the people who resonate most with the brand – that life is most fulfilling when we don’t just move through life physically, but choose to surround ourselves with the people, places and things that move us emotionally,” Neal Bouwmeester, director of marketing at Mazda Canada, tells strategy.

“It is a natural evolution of our brand positioning in Canada.”

Bouwmeester says that while emotional storytelling has always been part of how Mazda portrays itself as a brand, it has evolved to relate the joy of driving to the joy of living, celebrating the choices drivers make intentionally when seeking what moves them.

The platform also complements the company’s recent partnerships with Indspire and Pathways to Education, which aim to provide tools to youth from Indigenous and low-income communities nationwide, and is in line with the fourth annual “Mazda Legends” campaign that will recognize local community leaders in November. According to Bouwmeester, they all underscore Mazda’s focus on putting people at the center of everything it does.

The platform is being supported by TV, connected TV, online video and social media, as they allow the brand to connect with the public on a large scale, Bouwmeester says. “By activating media across the full funnel, from awareness to conversion, we have ensured that we are keeping our consumers front-and-centre to address their needs at each stage of the journey.”

VML Canada was behind the creative, while Mindshare handled media buying and Hill & Knowlton public relations.