Tag: Experiential Marketing

Hyundai Elantra: Driveway Decision Maker

When choice made the Elantra harder to buy

In North American automotive marketing in 2012, the hardest moments are often the ones created by success: when a winner expands and the buyer suddenly has more to compare.

The Hyundai Elantra was named 2012 North America Car of the Year. Momentum was strong.

Then Hyundai introduced two additional variants. The Elantra Coupe and the Elantra GT. Suddenly, a clear win turned into a harder purchase decision.

More choice created more hesitation. Hyundai needed to simplify the decision again, without reducing the range.

Turning your driveway into the showroom

Instead of pushing another brochure or comparison chart, Hyundai built the Driveway Decision Maker.

By combining Google Street View, projection mapping, and real-time 3D animation, prospective buyers could see exactly what an Elantra would look like parked in their own driveway.

The experience replaced imagination with visualization. No guessing scale. No abstract renders. Just your house, your street, and the car.

Why seeing it at home removed friction

Car buying is emotional, but doubt creeps in when people cannot picture ownership.

The Driveway Decision Maker collapsed distance between consideration and ownership. By anchoring the car to a familiar, personal environment, Hyundai removed uncertainty about fit, size, and presence.

The experience also shifted control to the viewer. Instead of being told what to like, buyers explored the car in their own context.

The business goal behind the experience

The intent was not novelty.

Hyundai wanted to reduce decision paralysis created by a broader lineup and move people confidently from interest to purchase. By helping buyers visualize the outcome, the brand shortened the path to commitment.

This was about restoring clarity, not adding noise.

What brands can steal from Driveway Decision Maker

  • Bring the product into the customer’s world. Context beats abstraction.
  • Replace imagination with visualization. Show the outcome, not the promise.
  • Use technology to remove doubt. Innovation works best when it answers a real buying question.
  • Support choice instead of limiting it. Help people decide rather than forcing simplification.

Hyundai invited consumers to try the experience themselves at www.pickmyelantra.com.

A few fast answers before you act

What problem was Hyundai solving?

Too much choice created hesitation. Buyers struggled to decide between Elantra variants.

How did the Driveway Decision Maker work?

It combined Google Street View, projection mapping, and real-time 3D animation to place the car into a buyer’s actual driveway.

Why was this more effective than a configurator?

Because it grounded the decision in a personal, familiar environment instead of abstract specifications.

What business outcome did Hyundai target?

Reducing purchase friction and restoring confidence across an expanded model lineup.

What is the transferable lesson?

If your product requires imagination to buy, use technology to make the outcome visible.

AR in 2013: Three Retail-Ready Examples

Augmented Reality in 2013: when the real world becomes the interface

With smartphones and tablets becoming part of our everyday life, we also see more augmented reality apps mixing the virtual and the real world in 2013. Here are some examples from ARworks that recently caught my eye.

Audi Singapore Showroom app

For the opening of their biggest showroom in South-East Asia, Audi created AR experiences that allowed visitors to fly around the showroom building without actually boarding a plane, or drive the Audi R18 race car around Singapore at full speed without the risk of getting a ticket. What’s more, they even allowed visitors to personalize their individual license plates and then take photos with the car.

Dakar race in a shopping mall

A real Dakar desert racecourse was built for the new Opel Mokka on a 4mtrs long table that was placed in a shopping mall. Visitors could use the provided iPads to race against time and each other. The results were then shared on Facebook, and the weekly and overall winners received various prizes.

Christmas Ornament Sling

Deutsche Telekom, for their Christmas promotion, developed an iPad app where visitors could throw virtual Christmas ornaments containing their personal message onto a huge Christmas tree erected in a mall. A successful hit to one of the real ornaments on the tree lit it up through an integrated server application.

The pattern across all three: AR turns “watching” into doing

None of these examples treat AR as a gimmick. Each one uses the device as a bridge between curiosity and action. You explore a building. You race a course. You aim a message at a real tree. The screen stops being a place to consume. It becomes a tool to participate.

In retail and shopper environments, augmented reality works best when it turns a physical setup into a simple, repeatable action loop for the visitor.

Why retail is the natural habitat for AR

Retail already has the ingredients. Footfall, dwell time, and physical objects that can anchor the experience. AR simply adds a layer of viewer control. The visitor decides where to look, what to try, and what to share.

What’s really being built here

These are not “apps.” They are engagement machines. Each one creates a clear reason to interact, a clear reward for completing the action, and a clear path to share or repeat. That is how you turn novelty into behavior.

What to steal for your next AR build

  • Anchor the experience to a physical object people can gather around. A showroom, a tabletop course, a tree.
  • Give the visitor a simple verb. Fly, drive, race, sling. Actions beat features.
  • Design a payoff. A photo, a score, a lit ornament. Make the outcome tangible.
  • Make sharing a natural by-product of the activity, not a forced button at the end.

A few fast answers before you act

What makes these 2013 AR examples feel “ready” for real audiences?

They are built around clear actions and clear rewards. The device is used to do something in the physical environment, not just view an overlay.

Which devices are central to these activations?

Tablets and phones. The examples explicitly reference iPads and handheld devices as the delivery mechanism for the AR interaction.

What role does sharing play in these concepts?

Sharing is tied to the activity. Photos with the car, results shared on Facebook, and personal messages sent as virtual ornaments.

What is the common mechanic across the three examples?

Using the camera-enabled device as a controller that links a real-world setup to a virtual experience, giving the viewer control over exploration and interaction.

ASICS: Run With Me at the Gold Coast Marathon

ASICS has a fine history not just in running sports, but also in the innovative use of technology. So at the Gold Coast Airport Marathon, a grueling 42km run, they created a powerful demonstration of running and technology by connecting runners with their supporters like never before.

Runners were given RFID timing chips to connect their run with Facebook. This allowed them to automatically post pre-written messages at checkpoints, along with distance run and remaining, live timing, and location data plotted on Google Maps. At the same time, friends and loved ones were able to upload video messages of support, which were triggered and played as runners approached giant screens along the course.

In large-scale sports events, real-time data and social signals can turn spectators into an active support system that changes how the race feels while it is happening.

A marathon that posts for you, at the moments that matter

The clever part is not “Facebook integration.” It is the timing. Checkpoints are already emotional beats in a race. Effort spikes. Doubt kicks in. Motivation dips. By tying updates to those exact points, the campaign makes every status feel earned, and every reply from friends feel relevant.

RFID is doing quiet work here. It removes manual posting friction, and it makes the updates feel live rather than staged, because the data is anchored to race progress.

Support that shows up on the course, not just in the comments

Most event social campaigns keep encouragement on a screen at home. This one brings encouragement into the race environment. The supporter uploads become on-course content, triggered when the runner is near, so the message arrives in the body, not just in the feed.

That shift matters. It turns “cheering” from a passive gesture into an intervention, and it gives runners a reason to care about the system mid-race, not only after finishing.

Reported outcomes, and what they imply

The campaign reported that 2,000 runners, described as 15%, connected their run with Facebook. It also reported 6,000 messages of support uploaded, 1,000 video messages created at the event, and 35% of runners receiving video support. Additionally, it reported thousands of unique status updates from inside the race, 25,850 unique visitors to the microsite, and tens of thousands of return comments from friends and family.

Even if you strip the numbers back, the strategic takeaway is clear. When you connect performance data to social response, you create a loop. Effort generates updates. Updates generate support. Support reinforces effort.

What to steal for your next event activation

  • Attach the experience to natural moments. Checkpoints, milestones, and thresholds beat “post whenever you want.”
  • Automate the boring part. If the participant must manually publish, most will not.
  • Bring support into the physical environment. On-course screens, audio, or wearable prompts outperform distant encouragement.
  • Give supporters a real role. Uploading a message is simple, but it feels meaningful when it is triggered at the right time.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the core mechanic of “Run With Me”?

RFID-triggered race checkpoints publish pre-written social updates, while supporter videos are triggered on giant screens as runners approach.

Why does RFID matter here?

It makes the experience hands-free. The system captures progress automatically, so runners do not have to stop or think about posting.

What makes the supporter videos more powerful than normal social comments?

They appear in the runner’s world during the effort, not after it. Timing plus proximity turns a message into motivation.

What is the biggest risk when building this kind of live experience?

Reliability. If triggers misfire or content appears late, the emotional payoff collapses. The tech has to feel invisible and dependable.

How do you measure success beyond impressions?

Opt-in rate, supporter participation rate, trigger completion rate, and whether the loop changes behavior, for example more mid-race engagement and higher repeat participation intent.