When Honda first launched it was edgy and sporty, the love child of a racing car and forward thinking engineers. Now it’s a family car.
In order for the new Civic Type R, to be credible as “the wild child alter-ego of the Civic hatchback”, there was some serious creative work to be done.
Enter Wieden + Kennedy London. And a duel-sided 3 interactive minute film called The Other Side. The film lets you watch (good) Dad doing the after school run to a surprise party or (wild) Dad as an undercover cop delivering a crew of art thieves to a police sting…by flicking from one to the other.
Dad appears to be a bad guy until his undercover situation is revealed, so Honda gets some vicarious cool by being ‘bad’ in its dreams. And the Civic Type R gest to show off what it can do in a car chase.
“We wanted people to feel Honda’s other side as well as see it, so we dreamt up a technique that brings together both narratives through a simple interaction. With a press of the ‘R’ key, the viewer is given the power to drive the film, toggling between two parallel stories. It’s a dramatic, heart-racing rush, a big gear shift between stories echoing the high octane rush of pressing the new Type R’s ‘R’ button to activate ‘Race Mode’.”
The Other Side stars Jean-Phillipe Ricci and was filmed by director Daniel Wolfe, the creative force behind Cannes Film Festival highlight, Catch Me Daddy. “British thriller, Catch Me Daddy follows the story of an ‘honour killing’ set on the West Yorkshire Moors, and is a terrifically bright start for its director…” [The Telegraph, UK]
Music was scored by Bobby Krlic of The Haxan Cloak.
The interactive experience was developed with Stinkdigital.
W+K called in Protein, a creative agency that connects brands to cultural influencers, for the launch event. Guests viewed the film in personal interactive cinema booths and got up close and personal with the Type R Concept car.
The interactive ad is being introduced by eight freakishly fast (6 second teasers) like this one:
