Honda has less dealerships than its direct competitors in France. So, to get its CR-V and HR-V SUV models in front of prospects, we knew classic advertising and purchasing funnel would not work.

But Honda has a main and valuable asset : its community.

All the Honda lovers are driven by the same passion : they like engines, motors and driving, they like our cars and advocate them.

This is why we decided to reach out to the brand’s biggest fans and asked for help.

Fans make the best salespeople, as they genuinely talk about the Honda brand and its products from their own experience.

Therefore, our objective was to raise attention around our SUV range by adopting a hyperlocal and targeted media approach around Honda fans.

With #Hondanextdoor we invited our fans to transform their garage into pop-up dealerships. These dealerships looked like real dealerships with big logos, banners, special entrance etc. Thanks to them, we entered the suburb and had concrete advertising material – guerilla style – directly where it was needed.

More than just branding, the pop-up dealerships were the occasion to showcase our cars in a life-like environment and therefore be more striking.

Ten brand ambassadors became designated dealers, and had their home garages converted into pop-up dealerships, right at the heart of French suburbia.

To kick off the 3-week long #HondaNextDoor operation, we launched a press, web, social media and television campaign to invite customers to sign up online for test drives directly at the pop-up dealerships. A film, featuring the brand’s number one fan, Jean-Baptiste, hit air waves in late September and promotion continued on Honda’s social media networks throughout the operation with new content gathered from experiences at each of the suburban dealerships.