Hitachi deconstructs hype-based storytelling to focus on facts

A new campaign by Hitachi parodies the ad industry’s tendency to favour hype over facts in its Action for a Sustainable Future.

Excessive hype can deflect attention from real-world solutions for a more sustainable planet. Facts, however, are not always entertaining.

Hitachi’s new campaign with Mamapöol and Emmy-nominated director Cameron Harris combines all the fun of an action trailer, with a comedic meta storyline which serves to inject the company’s sustainability successes into the narrative, while still entertaining audiences.

Action For a Sustainable Future highlights the company's 114-year legacy. In a playful twist on typical action movie tropes, the 2.5-minute ad mixes fiction and reality. A muscular man bent on ramping up the narrative tension is humorously shut down by a woman playing the director.

The film goes on to show several epic, yet anticlimactic, action scenes where the director continuously explains how Hitachi’s sustainable technologies are far more impressive than action stunts.

Our take

Creating a more sustainable world might not evoke the sense of instant jeopardy that an action flick archives, but the importance of creating energy-efficient technology is arguably of far greater importance than even Rambo’s most high-stakes escapades.

Hitachi’s efforts go well beyond greenwashing with wind farms powering millions of homes, hybrid trains cutting carbon emissions and its AI and cloud storage reducing CO2 emissions by 96%.

Keeping audiences engaged while showcasing the Hitachi product range and its eco credentials is no easy task, but we reckon Mamapöol have found an ingenious workaround by combining action tropes, a fragile ego and some light comedy.

Many standout ads are driven by strong brand storytelling, and Hitachi's campaign goes beyond by using an action movie trailer format to emphasize its message: real action is needed to address environmental challenges.