Tag: Wieden + Kennedy

Honda Jazz Interactive TV Ad

You watch the Honda Jazz “This Unpredictable Life” TV spot. At the same time, you open a companion iPhone app and literally “grab” what is happening in the ad. A character jumps onto your phone in the exact moment it appears on TV. Then you take that character with you and keep playing after the commercial ends.

Wieden + Kennedy London is behind this interactive TV campaign for the new Honda Jazz. The idea is simple and sharp. Use the iPhone as a second screen that syncs to the broadcast and turns a passive spot into a real-time experience.

What the iPhone app does while the ad plays

The mechanic is “screen hopping.” The iPhone app recognises the sound from the TV ad and matches it to predefined audio fingerprints. That timing tells the app exactly which character or moment is live in the commercial, so it can surface the right interactive content on your phone in real time.

What happens after you “grab” a character

Once a character lands on your iPhone, you interact with it away from the TV. You can trigger behaviours and mini-interactions, including singing into the phone to make characters react and dance. The TV spot becomes the gateway. The mobile experience becomes the engagement layer you keep.

Why this matters for interactive advertising

This is a clear step toward campaigns that treat broadcast as the launchpad and mobile as the control surface. When the second screen is tightly synchronised, you can design moments that feel native to the content people are already watching, rather than forcing a separate “go online later” call-to-action.

This is also not the first time an iPhone engagement model starts to bridge media and action. A related example uses a similar iPhone-led interaction pattern for coupons and augmented reality: location based augmented reality coupons.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “screen hopping” in advertising?

Screen hopping is when content “jumps” from one screen to another during a live experience. Here, the TV spot triggers synchronized content on an iPhone so viewers can capture and interact with elements of the ad.

How does the Honda Jazz app sync to the TV commercial?

The app uses audio recognition. It matches the ad’s sound to predefined audio patterns so it knows what is playing at any moment and can show the right character or interaction on the phone.

What is the value of a second-screen experience like this?

It extends a short broadcast moment into a longer engagement loop. The ad becomes a gateway. The phone becomes the interactive layer that continues before, during, and after the spot.

What should a brand get right to make this work?

Timing and simplicity. The sync must feel instant, the interaction must be obvious, and the “reward” for participating must be fun enough to carry beyond the TV moment.

Old Spice: The Social Response Campaign

One body wash campaign that owned the conversation

This Old Spice case study takes us through the insight around targeting men and women at the same time to generate conversation around body wash. When it launched, the campaign managed to capture 75% of all conversations in the category.

To continue the success, Old Spice & Wieden + Kennedy created the next level, where Mustafa. Now a household hero. Engaged with the fans directly. The response campaign consisted of around 180 customized videos which engaged the fans directly. Thus it became the best social campaign ever to have been created.

Here are some stats of the campaign.

  • On day 1 the campaign received almost 6 million views (that’s more than Obama’s victory speech)
  • On day 2 Old Spice had 8 of the 11 most popular videos online
  • On day 3 the campaign had reached over 20 million views
  • After the first week Old Spice had over 40 million views
  • The Old Spice Twitter following increased 2700% (probably off a lowish base)
  • Facebook fan interaction was up 800%
  • Oldspice.com website traffic was up 300%
  • The Old Spice YouTube channel became the all time most viewed channel (amazing)
  • The campaign has generated 1.4 billion impressions since launching the ads 6 months ago
  • The campaign increased sales by 27% over 6 months since launching (year on year)
  • In the last 3 months sales were up 55%
  • And in the last month sales were up 107% from the social responses campaign work
  • Old Spice is now the #1 body wash brand for men

And without further a-due. The best social campaign ever.

The real shift: from broadcast to back-and-forth

The original idea did something rare. It spoke to men and women at the same time. Then it did the smarter thing. It treated the public reaction as the next creative brief. 180 customized responses turn attention into participation.

In FMCG categories where products are similar, a brand character plus high-volume two-way interaction can turn attention into a defensible advantage.

Why this still feels like a blueprint

Most campaigns stop when the film launches. This one starts there. When the character becomes a “household hero,” the brand gains a voice people want to talk to. The response layer makes the audience feel seen, not targeted.

What the numbers are really doing here

The stats are not just bragging rights. They are proof that conversation can move the entire system. Views, follows, site traffic, impressions, and ultimately sales. All tied to a campaign designed to travel socially.

What to steal from Old Spice’s playbook

  • Build for both sides of the purchase conversation. The user. And the influencer in their life.
  • Treat launch day as the start of the campaign, not the finish line. Plan the response layer.
  • Create a character and tone that can scale across dozens or hundreds of variations without losing recognition.

A few fast answers before you act

What was the core insight in this Old Spice campaign?

Target men and women at the same time to generate conversation around body wash, then use that conversation to fuel the next wave of content.

What made the “response campaign” different?

Mustafa engaged fans directly through around 180 customized videos, turning audience attention into two-way interaction.

What results did the post claim?

The post cites rapid view growth over the first week, large jumps in social following and interaction, major traffic increases, and significant sales lifts over months.

What is the core mechanic behind the success?

A launch film that sparks broad conversation, followed by high-volume personalized responses that keep the conversation accelerating instead of fading.