• by Larissa Faw , October 27, 2017

Honda operates fewer dealerships in France than some competitors so to bulk up its brick-and-mortar presence in the country the automaker embarked on an unusual activation to provide drivers access to the new models of its CR-V and HR-V SUVs.

Developed with Sid Lee Paris, the #HondaNextDoor campaign converted 10 French owners' garages into dealerships and had them serve as brand ambassadors/salespersons. France hosts about 120 Honda official dealerships, compared to, say, competitor Renault which claims four times as many. 

As part of the project, these brand ambassadors became designated dealers with Honda completely transforming their home garages into pop-up dealerships, right at the heart of French suburbia. Honda, perhaps thankfully for the hosts, limited visits for these pop-ups to only Saturday and Sunday.

To raise awareness for these events, the campaign introduced online, social media and a television campaign to invite customers to sign up online for test drives directly at the pop-up dealerships.

A film, featuring who Honda deemed the brand’s number one fan, Jean-Baptiste, debuted 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.

Have a look here.

The three-week campaign reached over one million people, "generating thousands of leads," and over 1,000 people signed up to visit Honda dealerships. Based on this success, the concept of #HondaNextDoor will now expand to other European countries, starting soon in Belgium.