HondaPU22 and HondaPU14 have joined the Twitterati: but these newest members of the social media elite aren’t actually people, they are the Honda power units in McLaren’s F1 cars at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Honda PU22 is the engine motoring Jenson Button’s new McLaren Honda F1 car around the Melbourne track and Honda PU14 is powering the machine of currently-inured Fernando Alonso (driven by Kevin Magnusson for the season opener).
On its return to the F1 circus, Honda has anthropomorphised its two current engines (dubbed ‘power-units’ in the world of F1) for a Twitter-led campaign that aims to generate social media conversation between motor racing fans and the engines themselves (or rather the Japanese auto brand).
The change in terminology followed F1 rule alterations that enforced the integration of two energy recovery systems into the V6 turbo engines – thus this combined system is referred to as a ‘power unit’.
Positioned as mechanical ‘racing spirits’, the two engines have their own Twitter page – Honda PU22 and Honda PU14 which keep fans abreast of the latest news and developments at the McLaren Honda F1 team.
The engagement ranges from the technical and practical – eg one pre-race tweet read ‘Awake. I am ready. Let the download commence” and included a video of taken from the power units own point-of-view,
Awake. I am ready. Let the download commence.
https://t.co/gC0auR6F1f
— HONDAPU22 (@hondapu22) March 9, 2015
(film fans will recognise the spot as an homage to a scene from Paul Verhoeven’s 80s movie ‘Robocop’ – in which a man is turned into a machine).
to real-time race-related tweets such as
Keep it up @JensonButton. We'll defend our position like warriors!
— HONDAPU22 (@hondapu22) March 15, 2015
Pit stop time. A little rest, but it's not needed. I want to go again!
— HONDAPU22 (@hondapu22) March 15, 2015
Additional engine characters will launch their own Twitter sites as and when Honda changes its power units through the season.
Current F1 regulations allow each team four engines for the 20-race season.
The campaign for Honda Racing F1 and Honda’s R&D Europe communications manager Akiko Itoga was developed in partnership with agency Lost Boys/ Digitas LBi (the lead creative was Simon Gill).
Comment
There is something of an anthropomorphism trend emerging in sports marketing as rights owners and sponsors bring game-relevant inanimate objects to life through human motivations, personal characteristics and behaviours via their own social media accounts.
Adidas did this during the FIFSA World Cup with its Brazuca ball campaign (see case study) and attracted around 3.7 million followers to the ball’s own Twitter feed.
Honda has a way to go before reaching those kinds of numbers.
If it wants to achieve the same level of success as adidias it will probably have to inject fresh, more dynamic creative into the media mix (the Brazuca campaign included an interactive Tv ad shot from within the ball itself) as well as having to improve the performance of its engines (Button was the last car home finishing a laboured 11th, while the other car ground to a smokey stop before even starting the race).
But it is still very early in the season.
Links
Honda Engines Twitter:
https://twitter.com/hondapu22
@hondapu14
Honda F1 website
Honda F1 Instagram:
https://instagram.com/HondaRacingF1/
Honda F1 Twitter:
https://twitter.com/HondaRacingF1/
McLaren Honda YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialMcLarenVids
McLaren Honda Website:
F1 Website:
