Panasonic "Manned Airplane Project"

To differentiate oxyride battery from other products in the extremely competitive market by creating a strong impression of much improved product performance and by offering an unprecedented news value. How could they powerfully communicate that batteries so small held extremely high power? Through ordinary advertising it would be impossible. Their task: Do something unprecedented that would have impact around the world. Their idea: Have a pilot fly an airplane using just the power of small batteries. With this extraordinary ambitious project, they endeavored to give viewers of the program the shared experience of soaring into the sky. Oxyride would power one of humankind’s greatest dreams. Through Web and TVC, they simultaneously broadcasted a live documentary of the creative process, drawing audiences’ interest to the product. For additional impact, they also used the public blog community to share the dream and experience of realizing the world’s first battery-powered manned flight. The project attracted tremendous attention including that of the press. The supporting messages and viral advertising through personal blogs also contributed in spreading the information about this project. It became so famous that a number of media such as the Time Magazine and the BBC news website picked up this project, attracting worldwide attention. The media exposure they achieved through news and publicity is estimated to be worth over 4 million dollars and brand recognition jumped by 30%, and reached 85%.

Agency: Hakuhodo, Japan.