Honda, at its core, is an future-focused mobility company. They build intelligent vehicles and devices of all kinds. Jets. Autonomous cars. Rider assistive motorcycles. The Passbot. The Unicub. Asimo. And racing vehicles of all kinds (including the world’s fastest lawnmower). So when innovation and ingenuity is in your company DNA, the marketing should reflect that. Our work is like an extension of Honda’s product line, and in some cases, blurs the lines between ad and the product its advertising. The following are a few examples of the ways we’ve used emerging technologies and cleverly disrupted media platforms to reinforce Honda’s forward-thinking approach.
“R vs R”
Racing is in Honda’s blood. So to launch the racing-inspired Civic Type R in the U.S., we wanted to build on this motorsport legacy and marry it with Honda innovation. We held a one-of-a-kind race that bridged two diverse fan bases: racing enthusiasts and gamers. “R vs. R” was a first-of-its-kind mixed reality race that pitted a real Type R driven by a pro IndyCar driver against a virtual Type R driven by a pro gamer.
Awards: Clio Sports Bronze // One Show Merit // Webby Nominee // FWA of the Day // Shorty Awards Winner // ThinkLA Innovator Finalist // Gold Addy x2 // District Addy Silver
“R vs R” case study
It was picked up by over 100 news outlets in over 30 countries, including The New York Times and Top Gear BBC. And as far as results, it received 123MM+ PR impressions, 10MM+ video views and sold out the first two production runs of the Civic Type R.
To make the race possible, the real Civic Type R was outfitted with a custom augmented reality windshield. It used data from several sources (Microsoft Forza, Google Earth and GPS data) and allowed the race car driver to see the gamer’s position on the track at all times.
“R vs R” film
A week after the race, media on Microsoft’s Xbox platform challenged gamers to download the virtual Type R and beat Rahal’s time. Not many people could get close.
“Candy Cane Lane” - Year One
Honda proudly supports Children’s Hospital Orange Country, and each year we create a special AR or VR experience to brighten the spirits of kids stuck in the hospital over the holidays and add some normalcy during a difficult time. For year one, we re-created an age-old holiday tradition — driving through a ‘candy cane lane’ — but gave it a necessary twist for the sick kids who are unable to leave the hospital. We built a virtual Candy Cane Lane for them. This allowed kids to immerse themselves in a bright and colorful 360-degree holiday wonderland without leaving the pediatric cancer ward.
Awards: Webby Winner - Film & Video: Corporate Social Responsibility // ThinkLA Winner - Best Cause Marketing Campaign // Shorty Social Good Awards // Creativity // MASHABLE
“Candy Cane Lane” film
It received kudos from many different communities, including the tech community. The case study below shows the impact the project had.
“Candy Cane Lane” case study
“The Ultimate Get Well Card” - Year Two
We used augmented reality to deliver a unique get well card to kids staying in Children’s Hospital Orange County over the holidays. First we crowdsourced messages from well-wishers around the country, then created a magical experience in the hospital that culminated with the personalized well-wishes.
Awards: Creativity Editor Pick // Gold Addy // Silver Addy
“Ultimate Get Well Card” film
“The Magic Snow Globe” - Year Three
What if you could go inside the idyllic world of a snow globe, and leave behind the hospital for a little while? For kids undergoing cancer treatment at Children’s Hospital Orange County, Honda created a magical experience that used VR to transport them out of the hospital entire a virtual snow globe, with plenty of wonderful surprises.
Awards: Cannes Bronze // The FWA // Shorty Award Winner x2 // One Show Merit, Interactive & Online // Clio Bronze, Virtual Reality // Gold Addy x6 // Silver Addy // Communication Arts Interactive Annual
“Magic Snow Globe” film
Civic “Music From Every Angle”
The Civic looks great from every angle. That was the strategy, and to highlight it we teamed with musician Moses Sumney on the first-ever 360-degree music video, prominently featuring the Civic. As the layers of Sumney’s music continue to multiply, so do the Civics and Sumneys.
Awards: 2017 Brand Film Festival Selection // AICP Next Awards Shortlist // Webby Honoree // Shorty Finalist // Proto Finalist
“Music From Every Angle” 360 music video
And below is the case study that shows how we created the film and what it accomplished.
“Music From Every Angle” case study
Fastest Seat in Sports “Speed Simulator”
Every year Honda lets a few lucky people ride take a ride in an IndyCar. We wanted to let everyone experience it, so we did something no one had done before - we hacked the Google Maps API to turn every Google Street View Image into a Honda racetrack.
“Speed Simulator” case study
“Pintermission”
Innovation isn’t just playing with new technology. It’s also disrupting mediums and creating marketing opportunities in places where they don’t exist.
At the time of this campaign’s launch, Pinterest was a social media channel that had yet to offer advertising opportunities, so we cleverly created one of our own. The platform is all about sharing the things you hope to do. The Honda CR-V strategy was about getting out and experiencing the world. So, we launched Honda on Pinterest by asking people to get off Pinterest, where we offered top pinners $500 to take a 24-hour break from the site and do what they pin about. We called it a “Pintermission.” With an all-in budget of $2,500 (and $0 spent on media) we reached 16 million people…and even got #pintermission trending on Twitter.
Awards: 2013 One Show Interactive Finalist x2 // 2012 IAB Mixx Awards - Gold // 2012 PR Daily Digital & Social Media Awards - Best Use of Pinterest // “8 Best Social Campaigns of 2012” -iMediaConnection // “Social Media Hall of Fame 2012” -SocialMediaToday
The case study that outlines the entire project is below.
“Pintermission” case study
We sent hand-drawn invites to top pinners and asked them to do go do the stuff they’ve been pinning about.
We also sent them each “shingles” to hang on their Pinterest site while they were out living life.
And best of all, when they got back, they pinned pictures of the things they did with the $500 Honda gave them, which helped solidify Honda’s CR-V strategy even more.
Odyssey “Snack Attack”
To highlight the Honda Odyssey's new in-car vacuum we created an all-day melee on Twitter, where we put 40+ snack food and fast food brands on high alert and let them know their days were numbered. The result was a ton of intra-brand banter that resulted in more than 10 million impressions, as well as write-ups on AdWeek, Creativity and Mashable.
Awards: Shorty Award for Best Use of Social Media // One Show Merit // Gold National ADDYs // Best Digital Ads of All Time: This Week in Creative Technology
“Snack Attack” case study
