Makita Wants Potential Gardeners to Feel the Energy

Dentsu unveils ‘Feel the Energy,’ a bold, category-defining campaign for leading battery-powered tool brand, Makita. This marks the first large-scale campaign in Europe for Makita’s gardening tools business and is set to shift perceptions of battery-powered garden tools by challenging the dominance of fuel power. Leveraging expertise from Dentsu’s specialist agencies—Dentsu B2B, Dentsu Creative, Iprospect and Tag—this fully integrated campaign showcases Dentsu’s strength of collaboration.

For years, professional gardeners and tradespeople have depended on petrol-powered tools for their reliability and strength. While many competitors continue to focus on fuel-powered equipment, Makita took a different path, fully committing to their advanced XGT battery technology. To further this goal, Makita terminated the production of engine-powered products.

With XGT, Makita is demonstrating that battery-powered tools can match—or even surpass—the performance of traditional fuel-powered models, delivering equivalent power without the emissions, excessive noise, or vibrations. This contributes greatly to improving the environment around worksites and alleviating the physical impact on users. Such equipment is also lightweight, easy to start, easy to use and with no regular maintenance.

‘Feel the Energy’ disrupts the traditional garden tool advertising landscape by leveraging an unexpected yet powerful creative approach. The campaign features Andy Cato of Groove Armada, who is now a regenerative farmer with Wildfarmed. He has spent the last 15 years working out how to combine landscape restoration and food production; and his commitment to sustainability makes him the perfect collaborator in this transition to battery-powered tools. Featuring Groove Armada’s legendary track ‘Superstylin,’ remixed with real sounds from Makita’s XGT range, the campaign transforms the raw energy of Makita’s XGT tools into a high-powered audiovisual experience.

Using insights from Dentsu B2B’s Superpowers Index, the strategy focused on the evolving B2B buyer, addressing both personal and professional decision drivers. It crafted relevant sustainability messaging and highlighted passion points over generic industry claims to drive the shift to battery power.

Dentsu will be rolling the campaign out across 25 countries, including influencer, connected TV, YouTube, social, audio, OOH, press and digital display, delivering maximum reach and engagement with our core audience of professional gardeners and municipal procurement teams.

Jason Fletcher, ECD at Dentsu Creative, shares his excitement:

“It has never been more important for businesses to become more sustainable. Makita is enabling professional landscapers to do just that with their new XGT battery technology. Our campaign literally enables the audience to ‘Feel the Energy,’ utilizing the sounds created by the tools to power the ‘Superstylin’ track. Working alongside Andy Cato – a regenerative farmer – we showcase not just the power of the tools, but the positive energy of the next generation of professional landscapers.”

Kazuhisa Makino, CEO at Makita Europe, added:

“We are incredibly proud of this campaign and the bold statement it makes. ‘Feel the Energy’ encapsulates the power and innovation of the XGT range while reinforcing our commitment to sustainability. By moving away from petrol-powered tools, we are leading the charge towards a cleaner, more efficient future for professional landscapers. With Dentsu B2B and with the support of our committed Makita teams, we have created a campaign that not only inspires but proves that battery power is the future of our industry.”

Credits:

Makita:

·         CEO (Europe): Kazuhisa Makino

·         General Manager (Europe): Tomonori Araki

·         Marketing Manager (Belgium): Axel Bervoets

·         Supervisor OPE & Business Development (The Netherlands): Arjen Peeters

·         Product Manager (Finland): Jukka Salmivaara

·         The Makita teams across European subsidiaries

Dentsu B2B/ Dentsu Creative:

·         Executive Creative Director: Jason Fletcher

·         Associate Creative Director: Michael Herbert

·         Senior Creative team: Lisa Goldie, Catherine Crocker

·         Junior Creative team: Emma Simson, Ella Curtis

·         Managing Partner: Jonathan Turner

·         Client Partner: Simon Tyrrell

·         Senior Account Director: Suzy Gott

·         Project Manager: Jade Mair

·         Creative Director (design): Matt Weaver

·         Artwork: Chris Holiday

·         Production Director: Roz Prentice

·         Head of Production: Bumble Baker

·         Strategy Director: Christopher Bailey

Dentsu B2B (iprospect):

·         Senior Account Director: Michael Sweeney

·         Senior Account Executive: Emma May Keane

·         Senior Account Executive: Mahid Mohamed

·         Account Executive: Amiee O’Connor

·         Client Partner: Emily Birt

Dentsu B2B International:

·         Senior Research Director: Matt Botham

Dentsu Influence:

·         Business Director: Chloe O’Neill

·         Senior Account Director: Josephine Walsh

·         Influencer Account Manager: Demie Anukem

·         Influencer Account Manager: Andrea Nzeribe

·         Paid Social Executive: Lauren Simpson

Film/AV:

·         Director: Joffrey Jans

·         Production Company: YouAreHere

·         Production Company Producer: Jeremy Goold

·         Local Service Company: Orange Films

·         Offline Editor: Phil Currie

·         Offline Edit House: Stitch

·         Offline Producer: Alice Clarke

·         Online Post House: Gate+

·         Online Post Producer: Ben Cruickshank

·         Flame Op: Cathal O'Donoghue at Gate+

·         Colourist: James Bamford

·         Colour Post House: Rascal

·         Sound Design: Will Hulacki at WH Sound

·         Music Supervision: Dave Goulding at The Music Lab

·         Sound Mix: Scott Little at Gate+

·         Sound House: Gate+

·         Music Sync: The Music Lab

·         Hero casting: Talent Republic

·         VO: James Burrows @ Sue Terry

·         BTS: Gate+

Stills:

·         Photographer: Ant Strack

·         Retouch: Adam Howes at Gate+

·         Local Service Company: Orange Films