Delivering from the Desert

Communications

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Photo & Video

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Commercial

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year:

2022

Sharing a brand with the world from the deserts of Saudi Arabia. Curating content and communications at the famous Dakar Rally

The Challenge

Taking on the Dakar Rally is no mean feat. Taking on the Dakar Rally during a global pandemic to support a team’s very first participation, in a sustainably-fuelled car!, is another story entirely. The challenge for ROOTS. was how best to capture and document this story for our client GCK Motorsport.

As part of the French motorsport brand’s long term plan towards a fully hydrogen-powered cross-country vehicle, the first outing of the GCK Thunder at Dakar 2022 was an opportunity to push both car and driver to their limits over the gruelling 8,000km 12-stage race through some of the toughest Saudi Arabian terrain, passing through deserts, dunes and harsh, rocky landscapes.

Long days, extreme temperatures (both high and low!), sand and dust-covered equipment, bandwidth limitations and filming/photography restrictions were just some of the obstacles for the ROOTS. team on the ground to overcome.

The solution

Once GCK Motorsport had confirmed ROOTS.’ involvement in the 2022 Dakar Rally, we put together a plan that would maximise possible opportunities on the ground. This would include content to be captured, media relations, communications and related highlight days on-event and a full content plan surrounding the event - before, during and after. All content-related expectations of GCK Motosport’s sponsors were also briefed in to be fulfilled.

It was crucial to convey the GCK Motorsport brand message and mission throughout the rally, looking to future fuels and sustainability in motorsport. In this instance, taking another step in the right direction of the H2 Development Programme, racing with an advanced sustainable fuel solution that would see race-emissions alone cut by 65%.

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ROOTS. followed the team day and night to capture and deliver 360 degree content of the rally, documenting everything from start/finish line shots, to overnight scrambles repairing vehicles, to behind the scenes footage within the Bivouac and 400km near-daily drives between stages.

They also had the pleasure of welcoming press and well-known individuals in the motor racing world to the launch of the GCK e-Blast H2, the future iteration of GCK's fully hydrogen-powered vehicle and progress in the sustainability mission.A key feature in this instance was to ensure media coverage of the launch was a success, looking to increase awareness and exposure of the H2 Development Programme and activating the brand in an informative and engaging way.