Honda Brings Magical Holiday Card to Life for Pediatric Patients Using Personalized Augmented Reality and Crowdsourced Messaging

TORRANCE, Calif., Dec. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Happy Honda Days are back and Honda is using augmented reality to deliver the "Ultimate Get Well Card", a magical card filled with messages from well-wishers around the country and personalized for pediatric patients at the Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC).

Honda transformed an actual CHOC hospital room into an augmented reality winter wonderland in order to bring to life crowdsourced messages from well-wishers to be viewed by young patients through an iPad, held in a custom designed holder, triggering a wintery augmented reality experience.

"Sending warm wishes to others is one of the best traditions of the holiday season and through a little Honda innovation we're using augmented reality to send messages that will brighten the lives of young patients at Children's Hospital of Orange County," said Susie Rossick, Assistant Vice President, Honda Marketing.

To enable the children at CHOC to hear from well-wishers, Honda pushed out a short holiday-themed video in September inviting fans to leave get well wishes via Facebook and Instagram. Honda received hundreds of messages with select messages ultimately loaded on the virtual card, along with personalized videos from hospital staff.

In the "Ultimate Get Well Card", children see their name personalized on the front of the card, which then magically opens to reveal the contents on paper that come to life and fill the room. As the child interacts with the card, the images float forward and flip over to reveal heartwarming content. Utilizing both text and embedded video, the intent is to surround the child with genuine and sincere holiday messages.

An online film was created from the experience, which is available on Honda's social channels (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVfCiBPkaW4). For every Facebook "Like" or "Love" of the video, Honda will donate $1 each up to a total of $100,000, to both CHOC and the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation (PBTF), Honda's charity for more than 26 years. The Ultimate Get Well Card is a chance to bring a one-of-a-kind augmented reality holiday experience to children in need.

Honda is a longtime supporter of both CHOC, which provides high quality care to children, and the PBTF, which is the world's largest nonprofit solely dedicated to children and teens with brain tumors.

About Honda
Honda offers a full line of reliable, fuel-efficient and fun-to-drive vehicles with advanced safety technologies sold through over 1,000 independent U.S. Honda dealers. The Honda lineup includes the Fit, Civic, Accord and Clarity series passenger cars, along with the HR-V, CR-V and Pilot sport/utility vehicles, the Ridgeline pickup and the Odyssey minivan.

Honda has been producing automobiles in America for 35 years and currently operates 19 major manufacturing facilities in North America. In 2016, more than 95% of all Honda and Acura vehicles sold in the U.S. were made in North America, using domestic and globally sourced parts.

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SOURCE American Honda Motor Co., Inc.