Get Mean
- Brand
- Kia
- Year
- 2019
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Automotive
- Mechanic
- Music & Rhythm
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Code On Canvas
Objective
Kia Australia was launching the turbocharged Cerato GT and wanted its aggressive new exhaust note to be the model's headline selling point, while giving the brand more edge and humor than car marketing usually allows. The push rode on Kia's Australian Open sponsorship and Rafael Nadal's ambassadorship, so the brief was to turn the tournament's huge audience into hands-on engagement with the car rather than another ad they'd scroll past.
Solution
A TV spot and court-side screens sent people to getmean.com.au, where the only controller was their phone's microphone. Players roared into the mic, and the louder they got, the faster a Cerato GT tore down a track rendered right in the browser — no app, no download. Getting the car moving took seconds to figure out, but the real game was staying on pace: each stretch of track called for a specific volume, so screaming flat-out actually slowed the car down and cost the run. The same game also ran as a walk-up booth at Federation Square during the Australian Open, where passers-by bellowed at a screen in public for a shot at prizes.
- 1
The campaign's TV spot, court-side LED screens at the Australian Open, out-of-home ads and posters — all built around people roaring like a car exhaust — direct viewers to getmean.com.au.
- 2
The site opens as a mobile browser game: a minimalist black-and-white 3D scene showing a race track and a Kia Cerato GT, with dynamic typography around the track's corners that reacts to the phone's microphone.
- 3
The only control is the device's microphone: players are prompted to roar or scream into the phone, with no buttons or joystick, so the control scheme is learnable in seconds.
- 4
The core loop is voice-controlled speed: the louder the player screams, the faster the Cerato GT drives around the track.
- 5
A triangle in front of the car visualizes the player's live microphone volume, while differently sized triangles placed along the track mark a target volume for each stretch (small for quiet, large for loud); the player's task is to match their triangle to the track's target.
- 6
The target volume varies with the track layout — dropping on corners, where the player must quiet down as the car slows, and spiking to maximum on straights, where full-volume screaming is required — shifting the goal from constant loudness to volume accuracy.
- 7
A session ends with a combined score of lap time and volume accuracy, originally just best lap time before the accuracy element was added, with results entered to win prizes.
- 8
The same experience also existed offline as a purpose-built game booth on Federation Square in Melbourne during the Australian Open, letting passersby play it live and drawing others in to try it themselves.
