Honda Racing Spirit

Overview

Brazilians are not very connected with Formula 1 anymore. So to launch the new Honda car in Brazil, the Japanese brand wanted to combine the sport that once were a national passion to their new product. This project was developed for a pitch aiming to win Honda’s account for the advertising agency.

Details

Role: Digital Product Designer Company: Ogilvy & Mather agency | Jussi agency Client: Honda Project: Race Spirit

The Challenge

Restore the passion for Formula1 to the Brazilian market. We also wanted to bring awareness to the new Honda car, as well as generate buying leads for the company.

My role

I designed the user experience, acting from user research to visual design. We had only 10 days to complete all the work.

Main tasks

1. Plan the UX process on designing the solution, including UX methodologies and interface design.
2. Plan and execute user research process to understand the target and their relationship with Formula 1.
3. Prototype user flows and wireframes in collaboration with another UX design colleague.
4. Design interfaces that evoked an attractive and functional visual for the audience.
5. Write the project’s storytelling video presentation partning with the planner.
6.Draw the video’s screens.

Planning

1. UX Research
2. Solution Conceptualization
3. Prototyping
4. Visual interface design
5. Video case

UX Research

Focus group

We interviewed 8 people to understand the profile of the new Honda’s target. We chose a concise group of people due limited time and because this format would allow a discussion with more opinions and more time for each participant to present their ideas.

Planning and executing the focus group

We’ve put 1 designer as the lead moderator and 1 designer as an assistant moderator to write down the main topics of discussion as well as quotes and insights. We’ve also recorded the session to preserve every detail of the process.

Phases:

Goal definition: Understand the relationship between public and Formula 1, plus any insights during the session.

Group characteristics: Men, 20 to 35 years old, A and B social status.

Definition of topics and questionnaire:
Themes – relationship with Formula 1, interests in it, memories of it,
Semi-structured questionnaire with simple questions only to drive discussion

“What’s your relationship with Formula 1?”
“Do you feel any difference with this relationship in the past and now?”
“What excites you about F1?”
“What makes you interested in F1?”
“What do you like to know and see?”
“Do you have any desire in F1?”

Data analysis:
Content analysis with comparison of interviewers’ answers.

Insights and learning

· The main emotional factor about F1 in Brazil is the pilot Ayrton Senna.
· Ayrton Senna brought the thrill of victory in F1 and the proud to be Brazilian.
· The audience knew how to identify all Ayrton Senna car models.
· A very common wish was to drive a F1 car.
The audience couldn’t identify themselves with F1 in the past like now by the lack of identification with today’s pilots.
· F1 fans were interested on seeing the cockpit, cars’ details and what happens behind the scenes.
· The sound of the engine is a symbol of Formula 1 and the audience likes it and can identify each type of engine by sound.
· Sports’ fans are really interested on seeing more content, especially around the time the circuits are about to happen.

The solution

We conceptualized a website where users could choose and drive Ayrton Senna’s iconic cars.
By connecting their smartphones to the website, they could race on Interlagos’ track, in Brazil.
The idea was to create relevant content to keep the public interested until the launch of the new Honda Civic, aiming they would perform a test drive.

Prototype

We designed the user flow and wireframes on paper to speed up the process.

The video below shows the entire journey of the user during the experience. It begins with an announcement that Honda was looking for its new test driver and then users were invited to a Honda digital experience.

That’s when we showed they could experience driving Ayrton Senna’s iconic cars virtually on a F1 track.
In addition, the website had information about the F1 backstage, cockpits and countdown for upcoming races, increasing visit recurrency.
Classic engines were also displayed and users could hear each one according to its respective year.

The car would be launched one month after the website went online. After that, the platform would become the main page of the new Honda Civic, a car with the same excitement of a F1 car. That’s when the audience was invited to perform a test drive.

Visual design

The interface was modular simplifying content update and the transformation of the F1 website into the new Honda Civic’s page.
Tire marks and smoke were added in order to create greater contextualization.
Senna also came in as the main link to bring excitement to F1.

Custom website for the launch of the New Civic.

Mobile

Result

This project was the winner of the pitch. Jussi agency, a WPP company, won the Honda digital account in Brazil and today is one of its biggest clients.

Credits
User Experience Director: Pablo Moura
User experience designer partner: Rafael Miashiro
Planner: Fernando Goés