Audi Japan’s Q4 e-tron launch is our proof point for enterprise event management + original creative at a flagship scale: a Fortune-Global agency partnership (Ogilvy), a historic Tokyo venue (Shiba Oh Shiro), sixteen designed touchpoints across pre-event, event and post-event, and a replicable journey blueprint we handed to Audi for subsequent activations.
Audi’s Q4 e-tron is a thoughtful EV, but “thoughtful EV” was not what Japan was waiting to hear. The Japanese premium car buyer in 2022 had seen a decade of EV education campaigns from Nissan and Tesla and was fatigued by range anxiety talk. Introducing a new electric SUV meant competing not for attention but for emotional space.
With Ogilvy, Audi Japan asked for a launch experience that would move a buyer from discovering the event to sharing it with family — a journey, not an impression. The brief: design the full arc, from the first ad to the week after a test drive, so each touchpoint answered the question the buyer was actually asking at that moment.
Rather than mapping Audi’s features onto the venue, we mapped the customer’s mind onto the venue. Every chapter of the journey began with the question the buyer was asking at that step (“Why is sustainability important to me?”, “Is the car really as good as what they say?”) and worked backwards into the installation, the touchpoint, the moment.
We split the event into four chapters, each with a single emotional job:
Introduce the Q4 e-tron physically. Car showcase, interactive lighting, touch panel for the display, art installation that lives in Audi’s design language, and a USP installation that lets a visitor literally touch the new experience.
Customer’s mind: “What makes this car so different? How does it relate to me?”
Build the connection to the brand through sustainability. A sustainable food experience alongside an infographic-driven exhibit of Audi’s sustainable materials — the car’s values made edible and visible in the same room.
Customer’s mind: “Why is sustainability important to me? What do others think of this car?”
Give the digital brand a face. An AR dance fusion experience and a dedicated business meeting space where interested buyers could sit down with Audi staff without the car ever becoming a product pitch.
Customer’s mind: “What other surprises are here? How good is Q4 e-tron’s digital functionality?”
Convert the room into a seat. Test-drive reminder, test drive at Shiba Oh Shiro, post-test-drive debrief with a product specialist, and a gifted headlight-lantern that lets the visitor carry a piece of the Q4 e-tron home.
Customer’s mind: “Is the car really as good as they say? Can I see this being part of my daily life?”
The complete journey mapped sixteen touchpoints across six phases — from pre-event digital ads and personalised reminders, through the four on-venue chapters, out through the exit and into a two-week post-event sequence designed to keep the Q4 e-tron in the buyer’s head without pressuring the sale.
Each touchpoint was spec’d with its objective, the customer question it answered, the physical or digital asset required, and the handoff to the next step. The event ran at Shiba Oh Shiro in Tokyo with Audi Japan’s sales and marketing teams staffing the human moments.
Beyond the launch itself, the journey map became the operating document for Audi Japan’s subsequent EV events — a replicable blueprint for “emotional” product introductions in a market that is harder than most to move.
Audi Q4 e-tron is our reference work for prospective clients evaluating us on corporate event management and original creative. In particular:
If you’re standing up a product launch, a shareholder day, a brand event, or a market-entry activation — this is the shape of what we can run end-to-end.
“Map the customer’s mind onto the venue, not the product onto the floor.”
design principle · Q4 e-tron Japan launch