PLUG-IN Championship
- Brand
- Toyota
- Year
- 2012
- Objective
- Awareness
- Industry
- Automotive
- Mechanic
- Other
- Platform
- App
- Agency
- Bravetechnology
- With
- UNIBA
- With
- A4A
- With
- PARTY
Objective
Toyota was launching the Prius PHV, its plug-in hybrid, in Japan and needed to sell the public on the one thing that made it different: recharging. The brand set out to flip "need to charge" into "fun to charge," turning a chore into a small, shareable pleasure rather than just pointing at fuel savings and emissions.
Solution
The game hijacks something the player already does every day: plugging in their phone. A meter climbs up the screen, and the only job is to push the charging cable into the socket the instant it fills — too early or too late and the moment is wasted. Nail the timing and the screen erupts into an over-the-top reward: a bolt of lightning, a rocket launch, a champagne cork, an exploding watermelon, a geyser, a toaster firing a slice into the air. Each round banks points and medals toward a personal score, while the companion site shows a running world leaderboard and a live feed of other players' charges lighting up as they happen.
- 1
The player opens the campaign's free iOS/Android app or its mobile site, styled with a neon, Tron-like interface.
- 2
The controller is not the touchscreen but the player's own phone charger: plugging in the cable is the input.
- 3
A charge-level bar races upward on screen, and the player watches it climb while waiting for the right instant to plug in.
- 4
The player physically inserts the charging cable at the moment they judge the bar to be full; the game scores the attempt by how full the bar was at that exact instant.
- 5
A precise hit triggers one of several over-the-top victory animations — a lightning strike, a rocket launch, a champagne cork, an exploding watermelon, a geyser eruption, or a popping toaster.
- 6
The player receives a score for the attempt and earns medals that accumulate in a personal profile.
- 7
Results feed into a global leaderboard, letting the player compare their timing against other players worldwide.
- 8
The campaign site also hosts a live Ranking page showing players around the world charging their phones with the game running, illustrated with animated lightning bolts.
