Could a virtual gamer driver beat a real professional track racer?
That’s the question Honda posed in its new mixed reality race stunt – ‘R vs R’ – to promote its new 2018 Civic Type R and the Microsoft video game Forza Motorsport 7.
The first-of-its-kind, mixed-reality race pits pro driver on a real track in a real car against pro gamer in a gaming version of the same track and the same car racing simultaneously.
Professional; IndyCar driver Graham Rahal took on professional gamer Peter Jeakins in this unconventional marketing face-off – conceived by agency RPA.
Jeakins was behind the cyber wheel at Microsoft’s Turn 10 Studios in Seattle, while Rahal was putting down his best real world lap on the Road Atlanta race track in Georgia (with a mixed-reality projection on the inside of his windshield that allowed him to see Jeakins’ moves, in real-time, from the game).
The Japanese automaker amplified the race via video on its Facebook page, Twitter feed and YouTube channel,
while both racers promoted it through their social channels such as Rahal’s Twitter
I've raced against some of the fastest drivers on the planet, but never one like this. Watch me take on pro gamer @SLAP_train in @Honda's R vs R – a mixed reality race between real and virtual. Link to full race: https://t.co/FNxxc0JV5V #CivicTypeR @ForzaMotorsport #HondaPartner pic.twitter.com/k65phHPHHJ
— Graham Rahal (@GrahamRahal) February 22, 2018
and Instagram pages,
and Jeakins’ Instagram.
The initiative was also pushed through movie poster style images and all the creative aims to drive viewers to the official Honda Type R website at https://automobiles.honda.com/civic-type-r for further details.
Honda’s rich racing heritage lies at the heart of this highly ambitious and inventive project and the marketing team working work American Honda Motor Co’s marketing AVP Susie Rossick and social media marketers Jessica Fini, Lisa Stessman and Melly Ramirez was spearheaded by creative agency RPA.
At RPA the agency unit included EVP and chief creative officer Joe Baratelli, SVP Jason Sperling, VP and creative director for social media J Barbush, creative directors Mike Van Linda and Fabiano De Queiroz, plus creatives Matthew Pullen and Jon Murray, production EVP Gary Paticoff, as well as producers Isadora Chesler, Dave Brezinski, Linda Kim, Connor Gomez and Angela Pascal.
The RPA business and accounts team included VP Maria Del Homme, KK Davis, Brett Bender, Adam Blankenship, Kaelin McGill, Alison Bickel, Aurelia Fulginiti, Tracy Van Dang with strategists Hartman Wong and Hanna Samad, while media work was handled by Felicia Lau, Brandon Liu and Kaileigh Ceurvorst.
The production company was Unit-9, the director Jonathan Pearson, the executive producer Luca De Laurentiis, the creative director Davide Bianca, the producer Patrick Malloy, the production manager Sarah Barson and the DP Eric Koretz.
Editorial was by Kevin, the editor was Matt McKenna, VFX was handled by Ingenuity Studios and colour by Roving Pictures Company, plus the composer was Greg Chun.
Comment:
Things just got futuristic and race realities got mixed.
But are consumers equally as fascinated as we are?
On Honda’s own platforms, in its first 10 days the film has notched up 70k YouTube views and another 1k on Twitter, with more from the two drivers’ personal platforms including 14k on Jeakins Instagram and
Honda claims that ‘R v R’ is the first time augmented reality has been used to merge real motorsport with a racing simulation – creating a unique and innovative stage for the virtual world and the real world to battle it out once and for all
But we believe that the rise and rise of eSports is putting more and more digital athletes and traditional sports stars athletes on some kind of collision course and an increasing number of this type of mixed reality competition is inevitable.
Links:
Honda
https://www.youtube.com/user/Honda/featured
https://www.facebook.com/honda
https://www.instagram.com/honda/
https://plus.google.com/1103555948197…
https://www.pinterest.com/honda/
https://snapchat.com/add/officialhonda
https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta…
RPA
Forza Motorsport 7
