Contact: Daniela Karthaus Hitachi Europe, Ltd. +44-7920 205 631 daniela.karthaus@hitachi-eu.com HITACHI LAUNCHES NEW SOCIAL INNOVATION BUSINESS BRAND CAMPAIGN London, UK, October 31, 2011 – Hitachi Europe Ltd. today announced that its new brand campaign will be launched on 1 November 2011. The campaign, which was developed by McCann Erickson Birmingham on behalf of the Hitachi Group, focuses on Hitachi’s core Business-to-Business products, including construction machinery, data storage and rail.
The creative concept is focused around the question ‘Are you the Next?’, closely mirroring Hitachi’s corporate strapline “Inspire the Next”. The campaign uses positive case studies as a basis to show the strength of Hitachi’s Social Innovation Business in Europe. Three versions featuring Rail, Data Storage and Construction Machinery will be launched in the UK. For the Polish and Romanian market, five versions will be used, adding Finger Vein scanning technology and the area of Power generation to the three UK areas.
The series of advertisements will run across national and business publications in addition to being featured online, outdoor and on infomercials across the UK, Romania and Poland.
Hans Daems, Public Affairs Officer at Hitachi Europe said: “Our new campaign centres on Hitachi’s Social Innovation Business, the areas of our business where we feel Hitachi most contributes to society through our technology. The goal of the campaign is to raise awareness and understanding of these areas of Hitachi’s business, while showcasing our customer focus. McCann Erickson’s creative approach of ‘Are you the Next?’ successfully puts customer stories at the heart of the campaign, which was the reason we chose them as our partner agency. Consistent media buying across the three geographical areas helps us reach our target audience of senior executives.” To develop the campaign, McCann worked with both the European and Japanese Head Offices of Hitachi, as well as its local subsidiaries, to source case studies which reflected local needs, while evidencing customer benefits.
Edi FitzGerald, Managing Director of Business Communications at McCann Erickson, comments: “Although Hitachi is well known for its consumer electrical goods such as televisions, some 94% of its global sales come from its B2B products and services. McCann Birmingham has extensive experience in this arena, and we’re delighted to add Hitachi Europe to our portfolio.” Evident through the campaign and its creative executions is Hitachi’s expertise and support for its Social Innovation Business, which provides solutions to create ‘win win’ situations to enable Hitachi’s customers and the wider society to meet their own goals for sustainable growth.
About Hitachi Europe Ltd. Hitachi Europe Ltd., is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., Japan. Headquartered in Maidenhead, UK, it has operations in 11 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa and employs approximately 460 people.
Hitachi Europe comprises of nine business areas: rail systems; power and industrial systems;
information systems; digital media and consumer products; display products; industrial components and equipment; air conditioning and refrigeration systems; manufacturing systems;
and procurement and sourcing. Hitachi Europe also has three Research and Development laboratories and a design centre. For more information about the company, please visit http://www.hitachi.eu .
ABOUT HITACHI Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT / TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 360,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2010 (ended March 31, 2011) consolidated revenues totalled 9,315 billion yen ($112.2 billion). Hitachi will focus more than ever on the Social Innovation Business, which includes information and telecommunication systems, power systems, environmental, industrial and transportation systems, and social and urban systems, as well as the sophisticated materials and key devices that support them. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com.
