Prius – Harmony between man, nature & machine

“Harmony Between Man, Nature and Machine” is the Prius promise – something we’ve all heard before but rarely has it been better executed than in Prius’s new marketing campaign. Basically the premise is that this machine (ie the new Prius) enables you to get what you want in a car whilst enabling nature to get what it wants (ie less emissions etc).  The TV campaign takes the line of humanising nature or showing the two as merged – the TVC’s really are quite stunning.

They are followed up with a series of commercials, print advertising etc which demonstrate how Prius is different – tapping into this market’s desire for knowledge & information.  Then, in a fairly brilliant move, they’ve taken the concept to the streets and integrated Prius technology into things which people can experience for themselves – tangible proof if you like.

In a move which is as innovative as Prius itself, 18ft sunflowers growing out of park benches were placed in Boston’s Prudential Plaza, where people could sit, use free wifi, charge their phones etc. The oversized flower sculptures are partially powered by solar panels on the back of their petals and the base of their stems. Each of the five Solar Flowers provides seating for up to 10 people, access to free Wi-Fi service and power to charge cell phones and laptops. Daily hours of operation are 8 a.m. – 9 p.m.

As another part of Prius’s “real world” demonstration of the eco-friendly technology built into its cars, they are also placing solar ventilation bus shelters in cities which cool commuters on hot days. They echo the fans used to draw outside air into the cabin of the Prius to reduce cabin temperature when the car is parked in direct sunlight.

Both the Sunflowers & the bus shelters are roving displays.

Boston – Prudential Plaza – 8-19 July 2009
NYC – Broadway Blvd – 23 July – 2 August 2009 (Solar Flowers Only)
Chicago – Navy Pier – 8-22 August 2009
Seattle – Westlake Park – 29 August – 7 September 2009 (Solar Flowers Only)
San Francisco – Yerba Buena Gardens – 12-27 September 2009
Los Angeles – The Americana – 3-18 October 2009

The campaign also includes smellable billboards made entirely of real flowers on select highways in California.