Although the solar roof makes a small contribution to the rational advantages of the new Prius, its real potential lies in the appeal to peoples' imagination.

A car powered by the sun - what a surprising and disarming notion!

Our idea was a promotion that both magnified this feature and added a layer of emotional reward for the prospective buyer.

Simply, the first 100 people to pre-order the new Prius were each given a complementary sun. They were invited to name their sun during the purchasing process, which was then displayed in a virtual constellation experience.

To add to the reward, the position of these 100 suns - which of course appear as stars in the night sky - mark out a constellation in the shape of a Prius car - the first new constellation to be created since the 18th century.

Implementation

Pre-ordering the Prius generated an email that led our prospects to a landing page where they could claim and name their sun, and later obtain an ownership certificate.

We also created an app that allowed people to view their sun in the night sky, as part of the Prius constellation, and provided educational content.

This was also offered at dealerships as a more immersive VR experience, with Google Cardboard.

For PR purposes, a film was made to bring this experience to life.

All the suns were claimed within 24 hours of campaign launch. Within 7 weeks of campaign launch, Europe has completely sold out of the solar-powered Prius. Sales of the non-solar-powered Prius also increased shortly after campaign launch, by 176%.