Hot Wheels For Real was a three-year global program designed to take Hot Wheels from a toy brand for boys to an entertainment brand for kids of all ages. The multiple-award-winning work took the concept of branded content to a new level, broke three world records, and has garnered more than 300 million views.
Mattel
Hot Wheels For Real
"Hot Wheels For Real" is the brand platform that successfully transformed a toy car brand into an action sports & lifestyle brand, by living between the worlds of reality (each die-cast car is designed to 1:64 scale of a real car) and imagination (the limitless play patterns and creativity of a kids imagination when playing with Hot Wheels cars).
Unconventional approach was used instead of traditional advertising to spread Hot Wheels’ global brand messaging to a large audience than just the core young boy, making it relevant to boys of all ages.
It was a three-year global program designed to take Hot Wheels from a toy brand for boys to an entertainment brand for kids of all ages. The multiple-award-winning work took the concept of branded content to a new level, broke three world records, and has garnered more than 300 million views.
Hot Wheels for Real came to life as an episodic story centering around live action ‘tests’ as the Test Facility. The storyline was designed to appeal to kids yet have enough badassery to keep even adult kids glued to their screens.
It revolved around real-life versions of the global toy line, such as the Double Dare Dare Snare
(which also became ‘real’ when a 66-foot-tall version of it appeared at the X Games, Episode 6).
Below is a case-study that sums up Season 1.
Season 2 marked the evolution of Hot Wheels from a toy brand to a global entertainment property. An epic, action-packed, interactive 22-minute movie titled 'World's Best Driver,' featuring Team Hot Wheels and Mario Andretti in never-before-seen vehicles, aired simultaneously across 204 countries on TV and in cinemas worldwide. The movie was also translated into 33 languages.
Hot Wheels World's Best Driver
Race progress could be tracked online through an interactive map, showcasing each race zone and the positions of the drivers within them. Meanwhile, the leaderboard displayed the evolving driver rankings as they advanced. Additionally, the audience had the opportunity to vote for their predicted winner in this exciting race. The content was launched via facebook and hotwheels.com.
Behind-the-scenes bonus content
Released in conjunction with our WBD film, a suite of behind the scenes videos were released, featuring bonus content, celebrity guests from the world of motorsports, and a deeper look into how each episode was made. The series was hosted by pro BMX star (and Team Hot Wheels Red driver) Aaron Ross.
Numerous Awards — Cannes — D&AD — Clio — One Show — Andy — Hollywood A-list — 2 x Guinness World Records
Agency: Mistress
Partner ECD: Damien Eley
Creative Team: Elisa Tan, Guy Helm
Designer: Ryan Fong
Account: Brittany Driscoll
Project Manager: Emily Brackett
Producers: Oscar Thomas, Dave Horowitz
Director: Mouse Mccoy, BTS Director: Kenn MacRae