In terms of “user-generated content,” brands typically create an online experience around their product and ask users to generate content. We did the opposite. We found a video with our product being used in a creative way and developed a story around it that would give the creators of that video the surprise of a lifetime.

The objective of Honda’s ongoing “Honda Loves You Back” campaign is to reciprocate our owners’ passion. Encouraging Honda owners to become evangelists for the brand. When we found the music video of this highly talented band of Honda owners using their cars as a recording studio, we had to “love them back” in a way that would make a big impact in their lives. We wanted to expose people to their music, get them talked about in the press and get them noticed by record labels.

Our strategy was to use their appearance on the show to launch an online/mobile campaign, enlisting everyone’s help in passing along their story and music. Each ad placement encouraged viewers to tell their friends about Monsters Calling Home and to download their music. We also promoted the band on Honda’s Facebook page where people could see more of the story and help Honda to help the band.

The challenge was all in the execution. We invited the band to a fake concert to perform for a few hundred Honda executives. Timing was everything. Just as it became apparent that no one from Honda was showing up to their performance, we surprised them with the news of their real gig on the highly rated Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Indie band Monsters Calling Home couldn’t afford studio time, so they recorded a music video in their Hondas. We found it on YouTube, loved it, and wanted to help them out as part of Honda’s ongoing “Loves You Back” campaign.

We invited the band to perform for some Honda executives. Only one showed up. But unbeknownst to the band, we had actually booked them as the night’s musical guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

The story of Honda helping an unknown band get their big break on national TV made headline news and was viewed and shared on social media channels.

The goals were to get the band noticed, and get Honda talked about. And we succeeded.

The band went from obscurity to reaching #11 on the Billboard Folk Charts, and they were the 43rd most-downloaded album on iTunes (ahead of No Doubt, Adele, and Justin Bieber). They have since played their first headliner to a sold-out crowd at a 400-person venue (Hollywood’s legendary Troubadour) and were recently signed to a record deal.

Honda got 230m impressions of positive buzz, including 1.4m YouTube views, and coverage on ABC, VH1, Huffington Post and others. And Honda was named 2012 most loved auto brand in the U.S. by a Harris Research survey. Showing that sometimes the best way to get love, is to give love.