2014 Gold Best Use of Experiential

Client Honda (HME)

How did the campaign make a difference? Honda set out to amplify the launch of the heavily Japanese design inspired NM4 Vultus bike to the domestic UK market.

With just five weeks and 35k to make a difference, the brand entered an unchartered market space and made the most of emerging technology in a relevant way to capture the imagination of their new audience – and helped to sell the entire UK stock of the NM4 Vultus.

Strategy Sales figures in the motorbike market are currently very low among the youth sector – the average age of a motorbike customer is currently 39. To appeal to this difficult younger market, Honda used an emerging technology and a new space to foster a new generation of fans who would buy into the futuristic Japanese design and spirit of the NM4 Vultus.

Becoming the first automotive brand ever to exhibit at Comic Con, Honda was positioned alongside some of the biggest brands in movies, gaming and comics to appeal to a new audience with no prior motoring brand affiliations in place.

Oculus Rift technology was used to create a novel immersive experience that really captured the audience's imagination, had them queueing up to try out the NM4 Vultus virtual world, strengthened Honda's association with relevant, popular culture and resonated with their long-standing strapline 'The Power of Dreams'.

Creativity The concept made the most of the bike's innovative design – inspired by futuristic Japanese action movies and contemporary Japanese art, anime and manga.

A fully immersive virtual world was created depicting a futuristic Tokyo city. Visitors provided their Twitter handle and email address and sat on the NM4 Vultus to access the world of Neo-Tokyo through the virtual reality headset. The rider's Twitter profile picture was displayed on billboards within the virtual world and a photo of their experience was emailed to them – personal elements that fulfilled the demographic's higher expectations of a digital experience and gave them bespoke, sharable content to use.

The bike designers also flew over from Japan to add to the hype and answer a captivated audience's questions.

It gave visitors an entirely unique experience – unlike anything else shown at the exhibition and about as close to riding the Vultus as you can get without taking a test-drive.

Results It was a great time for Honda to adopt this technology. With a lot of focus on developments in virtual reality throughout the tech industry at large, the experience was perfectly pitched to create a huge buzz among a highly engaged audience – generating nearly £400,000 of PR coverage, 48,000 social interactions and reaching over 1.2 million people.

About 700 individuals took part during the two and a half day event, with hundreds more visiting to admire the bikes or talk to the designers. It was among the most popular stands at the event and was featured by several publications across the tech, gaming and automotive spaces, including requests for interviews with the Honda designers and the experience developers, adding PR value.

The experience established Honda as a leader in design and performance for a new generation of potential customers – and, more immediately, helped sell out the whole UK stock of the NM4 Vultus.