Honda dominates 76% of motorcycle market share in Brazil. But on the other hand, this ubiquity makes the brand perception fall short on the premium side. Even by offering the best package technology and performance-wise, our top niche big trail was still rejected in favor of more "charming" and "desirable" brands like BMW and to a lesser-extent Triumph. The brief called for a brand lift to the product that would overflow to the company as a whole. By evening out the brand desire game, our tech and performance would become the main dealbreakers. And in those fields, the advantage was ours. The main objective was to be considered among the customers of our higher-end competitors, by positioning our product as the most technological.

Born at the legendary Paris-Dakar Rally, our big trail motorcycle is able to face any destination, touring or off-road. Once planning data showed us where our audience was media-wise, we thought: what if we could unlock the secret of what’s behind the astonishing images they love to see on nature shows? So we came up with the idea of partnering with Discovery Channel to co-create an unbranded documentary that would lead their audience to exclusive behind-the-scenes branded content on a second screen. A QR Code exhibited during the TV Show took them to the “backstage”, where they could check the channel crew using Honda’s big trail full-capacity, all while exploring the landscape to capture awe-inspiring images. It was integral to do that organically: the content would reveal to the audience that the acclaimed photographers of their favorite TV network had our product as their natural bike of choice.

The big trail consumer in Brazil is different than in the US/Europe market. It's an older demographic, mostly male, with high-income. They have an adventurous mindset but their concept of adventure is much less radical: less racing/off-road, more touring/lifestyle. Comfort, technology and status are the main purchase decision factors. The motorcycle choice is a symbolic one, meant to advertise a way of life and a socio-economic status. In a partnership with Discovery Networks, we created a 4-episode documentary about the awe-inspiring Pantanal. We invited the audience to scan a QR Code to uncover the backstage on a second screen, where we revealed the documentary crew using the Africa Twin as a work tool. Each episode's featurette organically focused on a different capability of our product. We presented the audience with a landscape to dream about and the motorcycle to face it. All without interrupting the main entertainment.

In a partnership with Discovery Networks, we created a new TV show that entered their official schedule: a 4-episode documentary showcasing the work of a famous Brazilian photographer through the Pantanal region, the world’s largest tropical wetland. But instead of doing a simple product placement stunt, we kept the show completely unbranded. The actual product placement happened on the second screen content: each episode had its behind-the-scenes that could be watched while the main show was on. While the documentary showed the beauty of Pantanal, the behind-the-scenes content showed the photographers and filming crew using our product in the exact same hard-to-reach locations, organically using our product's technology and features as a real work tool. First episode aired on November 14th 2021, and the project remained on the schedule for a month. The full content is also currently available on Discovery+, becoming the first branded production on the streaming platform.

The content impacted more than 35 million people on TV and digital platforms combined. Our product went from an unrecognized brand to become number 1 in purchase consideration among our main rivals BMW owners (43%). 51% of these BMW owners became aware of our product and 39% were actively interested in the new model. In every focus group after the launch campaign, the dual-clutch transmission (our main technological feature) was mentioned as the number 1 advantage and dealbreaker of our product, with 65% of the BMW owners interested in knowing even more about the feature. Additionally, the production helped to rescue 200 endangered alligators. On a filming day, the crew found the animals flocking to survive in a lagoon dried by the seasonal fires threatening Pantanal at the time and alerted national authorities. The rescue, pictured in the documentary, got news coverage from the main news outlets in Latin America.