The purpose of HondaTrope was to bring to life Honda's innovative DNA in a way that could surprise and entertain. To create something that is truly new and joyous.

What we developed was a completely new way to use technology to change how we perceive the world around us. A playful spinning cup with an ultra-modern twist; it’s a volumetric persistence-of-vision LED display that overlays onto a real environment, only perceptible as you spin inside it.

Born from the principle that technologies work better when they fuse with the nature of the human body and mind, the HondaTrope achieves this by combining the simple motion of a playground cup, ultra fast LED strips, (+1,000 fps), and how our eyes work, function and perceive the world.

The concept centres on a bespoke spinning cup, custom engineered from the ground up. Surrounded by 24 light poles fitted with 4,320 LEDs and micro-controllers originally funded by the super popular Kickstarter community. Much like the ride from our childhood, the cup seats up to three people who pull on the wheel in the centre to make it spin. As the cup spins faster, the light poles increasingly reveal a hidden garden – a multi-layered digital environment seen only by those in the HondaTrope. This plays on the persistence-of-vision effect, a phenomenon of the eye by which an afterimage persists in our eyes for approximately 1/25th of a second.

True to the brand principles and history of Honda, this was a concept that was a lot of trial and error, tinkering, testing, and development.

Honda have released the code used to create the display as open-source, hoping for other creators and creatives to continue developing innovative ways to play with our vision.

Honda’s history of tinkering, combined with the rise of hacker culture, allowed us to create their truest brand activation to date. All fueled by a mix of open source technology and consumer insight.

This is Honda’s first activation that allows people to participate in their innovative culture. Honda's continued goal is to be a manufacturer that rewards expressive thinking and is not afraid to fail in order to achieve new things. To embrace their entrepreneur DNA.

There were tweets, Instagram shots, Facebook updates, increases in search demand, 4,500 mentions from blogs and news outlets. Our overall social share-of-voice increased by 30% during the festival. But the most rewarding results came from those who took it for a spin, with the smiles and joy evident in the photos and video submitted.

"This has to be the most beautiful thing I have ever been on!"

"What makes this so special is that you don't realise what is going to happen till you start spinning.”

"This is absolutely incredible."