Automotive marketing 2 | SunMatrix Ramble

Audi TT: Brochure Hack

When print becomes interface, not paper

The best product storytelling often happens before the test drive, when you can turn curiosity into comprehension with a tangible experience.

Transforming classic print surfaces into smart touch based surfaces through special conductive ink and sensors has been around for a while now. But I still thought the below execution from Audi was worth a mention, as it was a step forward for the technology since it surfaced in 2014.

The Audi TT was the first Audi model to feature a revolutionary Virtual Cockpit. So to inspire customers, Razorfish Germany used conductive ink, haptic feedback, Bluetooth and a custom smartphone app to transform the car’s conventional sales brochure into a smart surface which gave viewers an augmented touch based journey through the car’s Virtual Cockpit. Here, a “smart surface” means a printed object that detects touch and triggers connected digital content.

How the brochure hack worked as a connected demo

The mechanism was a touch-sensitive brochure plus a companion device.

Conductive ink turned parts of the brochure into touch-sensitive zones. The smartphone app acted as the compute layer and controller, meaning it handled the logic and displayed the content. Bluetooth linked the physical brochure to digital content, while haptic feedback reinforced the feeling that the brochure itself had become an interface.

Instead of reading about Virtual Cockpit, viewers navigated it through touch, guided by the brochure’s layout.

In European automotive showrooms and launch events, touch-sensitive print works best when it helps prospects understand a digital feature before they ever sit in the car.

Why touch and haptics made the feature feel real

Virtual Cockpit is a feature that can sound abstract on a spec sheet. Because viewers could explore it through touch and get immediate confirmation via haptics, the interaction reduced cognitive load and made the capability feel tangible. The real question is whether your pre-drive touchpoint helps people experience the feature, not just read about it.

Extractable takeaway: When a feature is hard to picture, pair a simple physical interaction with immediate feedback so people learn by doing instead of decoding specs.

The business intent behind turning a brochure into product experience

The intent was to make a new interface feature memorable and easy to understand before a customer ever sat in the car.

This is a strong pattern when the feature is hard to visualize and the physical object can reliably deliver the same guided interaction every time. It also reframed the brochure from disposable collateral into a premium object that people were more likely to keep, show, and talk about, extending attention time well beyond the first touchpoint.

Steal this for your next touch-enabled brochure demo

Use print to trigger behavior, not just convey information. If the product story is interactive, the media should be too.
Make the first interaction obvious. Touch zones should feel discoverable without instructions.
Pair physical feedback with digital content. Haptics and responsiveness make the experience feel credible.
Choose touch-enabled print when it explains something complex. The tech earns its cost when it makes a hard-to-grasp feature instantly understandable.

A few fast answers before you act

What was the Audi TT “Brochure Hack”?

It was a printed sales brochure turned into a touch-sensitive interface, designed to help people explore the Audi TT’s Virtual Cockpit concept through guided interaction.

How did the brochure become interactive?

Conductive ink and sensors created touch zones in the brochure. A custom smartphone app provided the compute layer and content. Bluetooth connected brochure and phone, and haptic feedback helped the interaction feel physical and “real”.

Why is “smart print” useful for explaining a feature like Virtual Cockpit?

Because the feature can feel abstract on a spec sheet. Touch interaction reduces cognitive load and makes the experience feel like discovery instead of marketing.

What is the key mechanism in one line?

Physical touch triggers digital explanation. The brochure guides the hand, the phone delivers the content, and feedback confirms the interaction.

What did this change versus a normal brochure or video?

It increased time spent and comprehension by turning passive reading into guided exploration, which is especially valuable in high-consideration categories like automotive.

When does this pattern make business sense?

It makes sense when you need to simplify a complex product story early in the funnel, and when the physical object is meant to be kept, shown, and revisited rather than discarded.

Honda – The Other Side

Car brands are always trying to show that their cars have different sides to their personalities, sporty vs reliable, safe vs cool, etc. What makes Honda’s latest effort unique is its YouTube video. By simply holding down the “R” key on the keyboard, the viewer can instantly switch between two different videos.

To execute this innovation, Wieden & Kennedy London had to create two storylines, one of an easygoing Dad doing the school run and the second as an undercover cop posing as a getaway driver. Both of which were then expertly mirrored with contrasting style and tone. The interactive experience was then put together by Stinkdigital at Honda’s YouTube Channel.

Why the mechanic matters more than the novelty

The “hold R to switch” idea is a simple interaction mechanic, meaning the viewer action changes how the story is revealed, but it changes how you watch. You are not just viewing a story. You are actively comparing two versions of the same moment, in real time.

Extractable takeaway: When a brand claim depends on contrast, the strongest format is often one that lets the audience trigger the comparison for themselves.

The real question is whether the interaction makes the brand point clearer, not whether the tech looks clever.

One scene, two meanings. The mirrored structure makes contrast instantly legible.
Viewer control. You control the cut, which increases attention and repeat viewing.
Storytelling as product proof. Different “sides” of a car become a narrative device, not a claim.

Execution discipline: mirrored scenes, opposite tone

This only worked because the two storylines were designed to align. Timing, framing, and beats had to match so the switch felt seamless, not like two unrelated edits.

The payoff is that contrast becomes the hero. Calm family routine vs high-pressure escape. The same underlying vehicle context. Two different emotional reads.

In digital brand storytelling, interactive mechanics only earn their place when they make the positioning easier to grasp, not harder.

The business intent is clear: turn Honda’s “different sides” message into a felt comparison, so the format demonstrates the proposition instead of leaving copy to explain it.

What to take from this if you build interactive brand content

Make the interaction explain itself. If the mechanic needs instructions, you lose momentum.
Design for replay. The best interactive films reward going back and re-watching with intent.
Let structure carry the message. When the format proves the point, you do not need heavy-handed copy.
Keep the tech invisible. Viewers remember the feeling of control and contrast, not the implementation details.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Honda “The Other Side”?

It is an interactive film experience where viewers can switch between two parallel storylines by holding down the “R” key.

What are the two storylines?

One follows an easygoing Dad doing the school run. The other follows an undercover cop posing as a getaway driver, with both narratives mirrored scene-by-scene.

Why is the “hold R to switch” mechanic effective?

It gives the viewer control and makes the contrast immediate. That active comparison increases attention, engagement, and replays.

Who created the work?

Wieden & Kennedy London created the two mirrored storylines, and Stinkdigital put the interactive experience together on Honda’s YouTube Channel.

What is the transferable lesson for digital teams?

If you can express your message through an interaction that is instantly understandable, the format itself becomes the persuasion.

Toyota: Try My Hybrid

Toyota in Norway is doing really well on loyalty and customer satisfaction, but it is struggling to recruit new customers.

So instead of having salespeople persuading new buyers, Toyota lets satisfied Hybrid owners offer test drives to prospects. A web and mobile service makes it easy for owners. For no money. To let strangers, neighbours and friends, and friends of friends via Facebook test drive their Hybrid.

Turning owners into the dealership

The mechanic is simple and trust-led. That means the trust comes from the owner-host relationship rather than from Toyota’s sales script. Prospects find nearby Hybrid owners and request a test drive. Owners opt in, schedule, and host the drive. The conversation is the product, because it is grounded in lived experience rather than sales script.

In automotive marketing where trust is the bottleneck, peer-to-peer test drives can outperform sales-led persuasion.

Why it lands

It removes the two biggest barriers to a first drive. Social friction and credibility. The prospect gets a low-pressure introduction, and the owner gets to play the proud expert. That dynamic changes what the test drive feels like. It becomes a neighbourly recommendation, not a pitch. The social graph component also matters, because “friend of a friend” is often the sweet spot where curiosity meets safety.

Extractable takeaway: If your current customers are genuinely satisfied, build a structured way for them to host the first experience. Let trust carry the conversion, and let technology simply remove coordination friction.

What Toyota is really solving

This is an acquisition problem disguised as a community service. Toyota already has strong satisfaction. The real question is how that satisfaction becomes low-friction acquisition before a prospect ever enters a showroom. Toyota is right to treat owner advocacy as the front end of acquisition, not as a soft loyalty add-on. The challenge is that satisfaction does not automatically translate into new buyers at scale. This service turns satisfaction into a repeatable, measurable funnel step. Discovery, booking, drive, and then consideration. Without needing more showroom persuasion.

What brands can steal from Try My Hybrid

Make the first experience owner-led. Use real users as the proof layer.
Design for “near me”. Proximity is the simplest trust signal after reputation.
Use social adjacency carefully. Friends of friends can unlock trial without feeling like a cold lead.
Keep incentives optional. Pride and helpfulness can outperform cash when satisfaction is real.
Instrument the pipeline. Treat hosted trials as a trackable acquisition channel, not PR.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “Try My Hybrid” in one sentence?

A web and mobile service that lets prospective buyers book test drives with real Toyota Hybrid owners instead of salespeople.

Why does the owner-led test drive feel more persuasive?

Because it is grounded in lived experience. The host can answer questions with real usage context, which increases credibility and reduces sales resistance.

What makes the social layer important?

It helps prospects find a trustworthy host through proximity and social adjacency, which lowers hesitation versus a fully anonymous test drive.

What is the biggest operational risk?

Reliability and safety. If scheduling fails, hosts no-show, or the process feels risky, trust breaks and the program collapses.

How can a non-automotive brand apply the same model?

Turn your happiest customers into opt-in hosts for the first experience, then build a lightweight system to match prospects to hosts and remove coordination friction.