Branding Spotlight: Team Hot Wheels World Record Jump

A new addition to the Brandflair site is the Branding Video Spotlight highlighting outstanding examples of branding using video and breaking down what makes them effective. All video is fair game so please submit your suggestions to us. We would love to review epic examples of branding and call out the best.

The video for June 2011 is the Team Hot Wheels Yellow Driver World Record Jump (see below). The video has over 5.9 million views on YouTube since May 29th, 2011. Here is what makes this video brilliant branding.
 
 
 

1. Simple Concept

Break a world record doing something insanely dangerous that we all dreamed of doing when we were kids…and probably still dream of doing.

2. Only Two Sponsors

Hot Wheels and Izod. Easy logos to spot throughout the video. Memorable! Facebook gets some tertiary branding love but does not overshadow Hot Wheels and Izod. We call this “Warm Porridge Branding.” Not too few logos and not too many but just right!

3. The Hot Wheels Car

It looks exactly like one that every kid today would have in their collection and one that every big kid played with decades ago.

4. Anonymous Driver

Famous drivers can be big brands themselves and potentially over-shadow the primary brands(s). By blurring his face and referring to him only as “Driver” and “Yellow Driver” the focus stays on Hot Wheels and Izod.

5. Editing

At just over one minute you this would typically be too long of a clip to hold today’s thirty second or less attention spans. Hot Wheels captured the jump from multiple angles that treated viewers to such details as the driver’s point of view going down the ramp, the car suspension on impact and the 360 degree skid out at the bottom of the ramp that created a wave of rocks. Use of slow motion is impactful and appropriate.

6. The Crowd Noise

Real time crowd noise keeps the excitement level up. By they way, who is that one lady screaming at the top of her lungs? She must have had a great seat and a big love for Hot Wheels! No matter…viewers feel like they are one of the lucky ones in the stands

7. Life-sized V-Drop

The initial drop off is insane and the ramps would make Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli nervous. Again, the driver’s point of view going down the drop off makes your head spin and yearn to hop on the nearest roller coaster. Viewers feel the thrill which makes it stick!

8. The Orange Track

An very subtle but epic branding touch. Almost every kid growing up with Hot Wheels had the iconic orange plastic Hot Wheels V-Drop track set to race their cars on. Whoever thought to add this timeless branding touch hit the nail on the head. It is our absolute favorite detail in this video.

9. Cross-over Appeal

Kid’s of all ages and generations love this clip. It brings back fond memories of good and imaginative times playing with a classic toy car from a well loved brand. I showed this once to my kids when I initially posted it on the Brandflair site and they have not let me replace it all month. We still watch it a few times during the day and before bed and it never fails to produce smiles, laughs, “Ooooohs” and “Ahhhhhs!”
 
Hats off to Hot Wheels, The Hot Wheels Racing Team and The Yellow Driver. Classic video and tremendous branding. Fantastic job!