Sony Honda Mobility
AFEELA Experience
AFEELA ExperienceAFEELA Experience
Overview
A 360° partnership in redefining the future of mobility and crafting a category-defying marketing approach from the ground up.
Signal
Decoding the Signal
A new possibility to rethink the EV category.
Born from a groundbreaking joint venture between Sony and Honda, AFEELA wanted to create its own category that blended entertainment, technology, and electric vehicles. And they were launching in a competitive market – the U.S. – where other automakers had a massive headstart.
ACTIVITES
→ Audience Discovery
→ Comms Planning
→ Channel & Partnerships Strategy
→ Product-Market Fit Optimization
To accomplish their audacious goals, AFEELA needed not just a new partner, but a fresh perspective. dotdotdash was brought in as a holistic, transformative partner to shape the brand across marketing, retail, events, CRM, and more.
We developed an iterative approach to marketing, retail, and operations that helped them act like a startup, challenge conventions, and get inside the minds of customers, all while driving consideration and sales.
Instead of appealing to the masses, we focused on highly-targeted tech and entertainment audiences. This would allow us to tailor messaging, experiences, and media to target people most likely to be interested in AFEELA.
Senses
DESIGNing for the sense
Transforming mobility from an action to a feeling.
AFEELA is revolutionizing mobility by focusing on the feeling of the journey rather than the act of driving. To express a value proposition so unique that it needs to be experienced to be fully understood, we turned to omotenashi, the Japanese concept of anticipatory hospitality.
Activites
→ Retail Experience Design
→ Customer Journey Mapping
→ CRM
→ UX, UI & Interaction Design
→ Event Concepting
→ Staff Onboarding & Training
ELEVATED CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
We set out to help AFEELA connect with people on a more personal level from the first interaction. We designed more thoughtful touchpoints at every step of the purchase journey, leading to rewarding experiences that create authentic interest in AFEELA.
PERSONALIZED IN-STORE DEMOS
We developed an end-to-end journey that starts with selecting preferences online and leads to a personalized in-store experience for each visitor.
IMMERSIVE RETAIL CONCEPTS
As AFEELA began planning and opening showrooms, we expanded our role into physical retail footprint design. This included developing an approach to service and spatial design, as well as bespoke interactive exhibits and experiences that connected the offline journey with the digital one.
System
Developing the System
A new model for experimentation- based marketing.
While other automakers work from the top down, we refined our approach to experience design, the customer journey, and staff training from the ground up. Informed by rapid experimentation and real-time iteration, we launched a connected ecosystem of marketing, retail experiences, and brand events that put AFEELA in the middle of the EV conversation.
Activites
→ Interactive Experiences
→ Retail & Event Fabrication
→ Brand Activations
→ Paid Media & OOH
HIGHLY TARGETED POP UPS
Before showrooms were ready to open, we launched a series of temporary pop-ups at malls and corporate locations across California, where we learned more about our audience, category pain points, and how to optimize retail design.
ELEVATED BY PARTNERSHIPS
We looked to the cultural calendar to introduce AFEELA to the world, creating a high-profile presence at moments that mattered most to our audience. Collaborations with TechCrunch, Fortune, and WIRED, plus appearances at the ESPY Awards, Grammys, FireAid LA, and Academy Awards, put AFEELA in the spotlight.
OOH & PAID MEDIA
Based on audience insights, we secured a series of highly targeted Paid Media and OOH that would reach our audience in the right place at the right time, with a specific focus on driving traffic to new AFEELA Studios.
Shift
PARADIGM SHIFT
The future of the EV category and marketing.
Our partnership is reshaping the mobility category and rewriting the rules of automotive marketing. Instead of taking a traditional top-down approach, we built an agile, experimental, and deeply integrated model from the ground up. By leveraging real-time insights, continuous learning, and adaptive execution, our partnership evolves alongside the product, the brand, and the business, keeping us ahead of the curve.
