Just over 2 years ago we (a group of online developers) took a very unpopular route. We decided to embrace social media. We wanted to let people share and talk about their favorite topics. At the time the buzz word Web 2.0 was few and far between but described what we were trying to do.
We took the first step in creating an way for users to download free templates of cars and hopefully (fingers crossed) they would design them. The application was set up so they could upload them back to the site. We set up a rating system so other users could rate the cars. We put a lot on the line for this new concept because it was considered very risky. Imaging allowing competitors logos being on your website was one of the reason not to do it. The concept went going over like a lead balloon and we could see the pink slips on the wall. We decided to stick to our guns because we believed the site belongs to the fans and crossed our fingers. The web application went live on Friday quietly so only the fans would see it.
The forums picked up on this feature immediately and it was all over the place. Negative and positive comments were posted. I knew we had a very short time to show this as a success or I would be in serious trouble quickly. The next day a few images were posted. I was thrilled but knew that wasn’t a compelling story if this was going to be all. Then things really started to pick up on Sunday. People were spending all weekend creating these elaborate cars. The quality was second to none. I couldn’t believe it. People from all over the world were putting their favorite products on cars and showing them off to the world. Thankfully it was a huge success in such a short time. (A big Thank You to the fans)
We immediately decided to build upon this be giving the fans a voice. They were allowed to comment on the cars and talk about their experiences. It was great.
To make a long story short, we had thousands of artist uploading designs and hundreds of thousands viewing and rating the designs.
A forward thinking company stepped forward and wanted to participate with this new community. Honda wanted to give the fans a chance to actually create and design an Indy Racing League Safety Car. Honda is giving the opportunity for fans to show everybody what a Safety Car should look like. It will be interesting to see what designs come out of this.
I believe Honda will get more out of this than any campaign that would cost millions. They will have thousands of people downloading their very product and spend countless hours designing on it. Then millions of users will spend hours rating, commenting and discussing these designs. What a huge opportunity for Honda. The Honda Accord will be burned into millions of peoples heads because Honda understands their customers. Honda and potential new customers will both benefit from this type of advertising.
Honda is letting the customers own their product and by doing so we have come full circle.
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