Honda has just unveiled an interesting new concept for the livery of its RA107 car for the 2007 Formula One season. No logos, just a big detailed photo of the Earth.
To help raise awareness of the environmental issues facing the planet, the RA107 F1 car will simply feature a huge image of earth, in place of the advertising and sponsor logos which have featured and dominated all other F1 cars for decades.
Considering that Formula One teams get a large (80-85%, according to the BBC) proportion of their income from sponsorship dollars, this is a bold move. There has been some speculation on the web that this move has been forced by Honda's inability to secure a main sponsor.
The concept is simple. Anyone can have their name placed on the paintwork of the car by making a donation to an environmental charity, and pledging to make a lifestyle change to benefit the environment by visiting www.myearthdream.com . Your name will then appear somewhere on the paintwork, and there will supposedly be an online magnifying glass to zoom in on your name. The website isn't working as yet, but will be functional tomorrow. We'll see....
My suspicion is that this is a shrewd move by Honda for several reasons:
- Enhances their current marketing slogan of The Power of Dreams, along with their brand values of environmental consciousness (such as their hybrid, natural gas, and fuel cell vehicles)
- Effective viral marketing, with the launch of their new livery attracting significant attention and buzz on web forums
- Potentially new model for advertising and fund-raising, particularly for F1. Instead of giving sponsors exposure to 300mm television viewers per race, the exposure is generated through advertising on www.myearthdream.com, the URL advertised on the rear wing, and mostly through viral marketing as well
- Its echoes the million-pixel ad , when a schoolboy generated a million dollars of advertising by selling ad-space for $1 a pixel here.
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