Great imaginations lead to great things—in this case, the 2016 Civic. As one of Honda’s most popular vehicles, the launch of the 10th-generation Civic needed to be as imaginative as the vehicle itself.

We partnered with Moses Sumney, an up-and-coming musician who uses his imagination to create intricately layered musical arrangements using his voice, hands, and in this case, the Civic. This 360-degree music video incorporates the Civic as both as an instrument and a piece of art for a totally unique and immersive experience. Viewers are able to explore the entirety of the 360-degree space, watching each element of the song build as they follow multiple versions of Moses around the room.

Overall, “Music From Every Angle” is the perfect blend of imagination and innovation. It’s about using the power of dreams to stay inspired, embrace uniqueness, and find greatness in the unexpected.

Initially, we looked at various 360 filming methods, but none met our standards. Google had jump rigs with 16 GoPro cameras, and we investigated a litany of other cameras and techniques. Ultimately, we wanted something that was at a higher quality than anything we had seen. So we innovated and used a Red, turned it vertical, and captured six 60- degree slices of the performance, using a fisheye lens. This 4K output was cleaned up and stitched together in post using a proprietary technique.

Mobile was always first in our thinking. And we optimized for an experience where the phone becomes a portal. As you move it around the room, the video unfolds. But we also needed to be mindful of the headset crowd. Although adoption was still low on headsets, we knew it was growing. So we wanted to future-proof that experience to feel clean and immersive.

Car launches are about making a big splash in a short window. Luckily, we managed to time that with a technology that was emerging as well.

Although this was created as a 360 experience, utilizing the larger network of Facebook, we optimized the VR/headset distribution network as well.

We leveraged the very same video format on YouTube for long-tail engagement and even more content discovery. We also chose virtual reality-specific executions and platforms, like Google Cardboard, Oculus, Littlstar and Vrideo, to further involve Honda in the larger VR conversation.

We reached our fickle target audience (18- to 24-year-old males interested in automotive and music), and also made 26.4 million impressions, had 15,444 shares of the video, 3.3 million total engagements, and over 4.8 million views.