The long-running Honda Civic Tour is known for bringing fans closer to some of the hottest artists in music. But as it enters its 21st year, fresh off a groundbreaking virtual program in 2021 that featured the R&B artist H.E.R. in a live mixed reality broadcast on an XR stage, the brand is writing a new chapter for the tour that combines the best of the virtual and in-person worlds to help promote its 2023 Civic Type R among young multicultural audiences.
The 2022 Honda Civic Tour Presents The Future X is a seven-city U.S. concert tour supported by TikTok content and headlined by pop group, The Future X, which consists of three singers and four dancers all discovered on TikTok. The artists will share their journey, live performances, and meetups with special guests on TikTok via @thefutureexofficial over the course of the tour. The group will also “continue the popular Honda Civic Tour tradition,” the brand says, of traveling in a custom-designed Honda vehicle. This year, it’s a Civic Type R customized with a wrap designed by the group that concertgoers will be able to check out along with the all-new Civic HR-V.
The tour kicked off July 27 at The Roxy in L.A. and will travel to Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, Miami, and Phoenix, before it concludes with a finale event on Oct. 8 on the Honda Stage at Austin City Limits. Smaller venues located in the hearts of the tour cities were chosen by design with 500 to 1,000 fans and invited TikTok influencers in attendance for each show depending on the city. Consumers were invited to register for free tickets while available earlier this summer.
From the Civic Tour Archives:
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“We wanted to think differently about the Civic Tour and look at trends in music and how the younger multicultural audience is engaging with different music experiences, whether it’s in-person or it’s virtual,” says Jessika Laudermilk, senior manager-Honda Marketing. “We knew we had to evolve to where people are at and where we can authentically connect with customers. And in the past few years, TikTok has been the place where huge artists have been breaking through and able to make it in their careers. Because we’ve had such a strong partnership with TikTok in our other advertising efforts, it felt like a really natural place for us to go.”
Laudermilk says Civic’s status as the No. 1 vehicle among millennial buyers and its capture of first-time Gen Z multicultural buyers over the last six years is a key benchmark for the brand as it measures the success of the in-person tour. But, she says, the support social and digital plays is critical moving forward. “When we announced this new Civic Tour, the video that was posted on The Future X’s account had close to 30 million views after just two days, so I think that right there was just such a great understanding of the huge reach that not just the platform, but this type of marketing has.” Agency: In-house.
Photo credit: Honda/The Future X
Cruise through the content:
@honda New York ✔️@The Future X is on the move! Next stop, Chicago! #HondaCivicTour