Happiness Brussels, who brought you the award-winning IQ Font , are now beating Google to the punch in Belgium. As it turns out their over-sized Google Map cars can't get through the small streets, so the wee IQ decided to act all superhero and complete the google maps route for them. All the residents on the wee streets will receive a DM from IQ when their street is available on www.iQstreetview.com, showing off the cars small-street skills to the exact punter who might have use for it. Clever. At the end of this year they'll even hand over the street data to Google Maps, making the IQ the component needed for proper (teeny) European street views.
When Google Street View was launched successfully in Belgium in 2011 not every street was mapped for the simple reason that the Google car could not get down the smaller roads of which there are so many in Belgium.
Drive forward the Toyota “iQ Street View” project. Toyota Belgium saw this as an opportunity to complete Google’s project using the most agile, compact and nippy car in its range, the iQ. Toyota fitted out their iQ with a special 360° camera on its roof while the interior was spacious enough to house the huge amount of equipment required for the project.
Toyota is asking people to tag streets that are not yet filmed by Google on www.iQstreetview.com. These streets must meet the iQ-criteria; only streets that are difficult to navigate in will be considered. On the campaign website users can watch a video showing how iQ Street View works, tag their street, view which streets have been filmed by the iQ and book a test drive. To kick-start the project Toyota has already filmed a number of streets across several locations including Brussels, Mons and Tubize.
Happiness Brussels commissioned an international team of engineers to set up a bespoke 360° camera and to develop the necessary software to make the filmed images compatible with Google Street View. The iQ Street View website was created by Bliss Interactive, Happiness Brussels’ interactive studio in Vietnam.
As prime candidates to own an iQ, people living in the newly tagged streets will be systematically receiving a direct mail from Toyota with an exclusive offer on the iQ and a note informing them that their street has been added to iQ Street View.
Patrice Vekemans, marketing director at Toyota Belgium, said: “For the iQ we are always looking for ideas that are true to the innovative character of the car. A couple of years ago we let the iQ develop its own type font. Now it is a pleasure for us to step in with iQ Street View to complete Google’s Belgium Street View. Consider it an expected extra on-street service from Toyota.”
iQ Street View will run until the end of the year when all new street imagery and data developed by the project will be presented to Google to complete and optimise Belgium’s Street View service.
Client: Toyota
Contacts: Patrice Vekemans, André Juprelle
Agency: Happiness Brussels
Creative Management: Peter Ampe, Isabel Peeters
Concept Providers: Patrick Glorieux, Naim Baddich
Head of Art: Cecilia Azcarate Isturiz
Copywriter: Patrick Glorieux
Art Director: Naim Baddich
Content Director: Joris Joosten
Account Director: Pascal Kemajou
Account: Mehdi Sel
Graphic Design: Jeremy Vandenbosch
Producer: Bart Vande Maele
Film Director: Bob Jeusette
Website: Bliss Interactive
DM: Red Works