We started with Dani Pedrosa. He is Spain’s youngest Grand Prix racing world champion, and he kicked-off the Eco Challenge, test driving Insight on national television and challenging the public to beat his eco-friendly driving score.In 17 cities, at 17 test-drive events, drivers could try out the new Insight and rank their eco-scores against Pedrosa’s, other celebrities and the rest of Spain. We used ads, social media and local opinion leaders to promote participation at our unique events.A string of Spanish TV stars also eagerly took up Pedrosa’s challenge. We broadcast their performances in a series of 60-second documentaries on TV and on the web, where we also posted behind-the-scenes celebrity test drive footage and interviews.Those with the highest scores competed in a star-studded “Grand Prix” at a closed-circuit professional driving course: a dream-come-true for many driving enthusiasts! All was broadcast on the web, with highlights on TV.

Our Eco Challenge TV spots were instantly recognisable, and widely watched. In fact, the campaign’s reach was 88.3%. Brand awareness for the Honda Insight catapulted to 80%.The competition reached capacity, with 2,040 drivers participating.And those who couldn’t get race track spots poured into Honda dealerships and took a test drive on their own; an additional 6,100 of them.On less than half the budget of a traditional launch, and in the middle of a deep recession, Honda sold 464 Insights in six months, doubling its share of the Spanish hybrid market to 21%.