Branded entertainment has always had roots in film; this campaign focused on saving the theaters that show those films. Drive-in theaters are an American tradition and a historic part of car culture. But after years of steady decline, the industry was at a major crossroads. By the end of 2013, Hollywood would stop distribution of movies on film, forcing drive-ins to switch to digital projection. The high cost of conversion ($80,000 USD) threatened to put a majority of the fewer than 400 remaining U.S. drive-ins, mostly in small towns, out of business. American Honda recognized this problem, and since one of Honda’s founding values is being a company society wants to exist, saw an opportunity to help preserve this important part of car culture. So with the help of drive-in owners and supporters nationwide, Honda launched Project Drive-In: a movement to save as many drive-ins as possible. Honda donated five digital projectors to the cause, asking America to vote to decide which drive-ins would be saved. The resulting effort was a choreographed use of branded content, digital and social media, and PR to bring national attention to this problem.

The goal was to start a movement to save the American drive-in theater, by raising national awareness of the broader issue. The central hook of the campaign was a contest where 5 Honda-donated digital projectors would be awarded by public vote. The overall effort included a choreographed use of branded and user-generated content, digital and social media, experiential, PR and guerilla materials. Our mini-documentary seeded the effort with Honda’s online communities and with media organizations: a dedicated website became the rallying point, allowing people to meet the drive-ins and vote, donate or share the cause with their friends and family. We hosted pop-up drive-ins at Honda dealerships to bring the drive-in experience to places where it didn’t exist. To keep the crusade accessible, we created an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign so people could contribute to the cause even if they didn’t have a specific drive-in to support. But the heart and soul of the effort came from on-the-ground supporters. Armed with a Honda-created campaign toolkit, we encouraged individual drive-in operators and their fans to campaign for votes and draw attention to the need in their communities. This is where the outreach took scale. Local news services were the first to pick up the story, followed by national print and TV news coverage, including NBC Nightly News, USA Today, and Huffington Post. The grassroots stories of outreach and involvement were impressive: a senator posting movement signage outside his office, a local pastor encouraging parishioners to vote, and a local school district making voting for their local drive-in a daily mandatory assignment for every student. To award the projectors, we visited winning drive-in owners, posing as news reporters covering the impending digital conversion. After a few questions, we finally told them they had actually won a digital projector and captured their reactions.

Project Drive-In harnessed the nostalgia for drive-in movie theaters and offered a range of opportunities for people to get involved. A mini-documentary focused on raising awareness, while a dedicated website offered multiple ways for people to join in. Some showed their support via social media posts, and taking a pledge to visit a local drive-in. Others voted to save a drive-in and contributed to the 'Save the Drive-in' fund. Together, all elements sparked a national conversation about the issue, bringing attention to the movement—driving people to take action and communities to rally behind their drive-ins.

Over 126 drive-in owners entered the contest by creating a video and/or photo gallery and a written essay, asking America to vote for their drive-in. To campaign for themselves, drive-in owners used their existing Facebook pages to rally their communities to get the vote out. After 45 days of campaigning, more than 2.6 million votes were cast on projectdrivein.com. The site received over 3.6 million visitors. The cultural impact was immense: Driven by social media advocacy and news reports, Project Drive-In garnered over 867 million earned impressions, and more than 379,600 social shares (across blogs, forums, Twitter and news). We had numerous mentions from influential celebrities, such as Wes Craven and Kristen Bell. Even other brands like Cheerios and AutoTrader donated to the cause and over $55,000 was raised on our 'Save the Drive-in' crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. Most important, between Honda-donated projectors, community fundraising and corporate donations, 27 drive-ins have been saved so far. And there are reports of even more drive-ins continuing the fundraising effort to lease a new digital projector for the 2014 season.