Do Driving. Earn Points. Get Free Stuff

Imagine earning reward points for driving past a Flight Centre billboard or listening to an ad for Vodafone on the radio.

Imagine earning points for somehow navigating from Sydney CBD to the airport in under 18 hours* during peak time…

Well, at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Honda debuted a system for doing exactly that.

The Honda Dream Drive program is a dashboard that rewards drivers and passengers for using the connected capabilities of the cars. The program is rolling out in beta through 2019.

New Revenue Opportunities From Data  

The program represents an intriguing development for Honda, and perhaps car brands more broadly. Rather than a marketing stunt to build buzz, or, lamer still, to win a brand manager or agency an award at Cannes, the Honda Dream Drive program is intended to open up new revenue opportunities.    

Initially unveiled in a simpler form a few years back, Honda has been building out Dream Drive since. Expanding features and functionality and signing up big-name partners in different industries, like Lego, Visa and StubHub.

Drivers and passengers alike can earn points for how they interact with the vehicle and the environment more broadly. Points are redeemable for discounts or free items with Honda’s retail and media partners.

Data Is The New Oil

The widescale adoption of connected vehicles is expected to be the next ‘iPhone moment’. Hence the scramble to get a piece of the Apple pie. Pun intended.

We spend roughly 60 – 90 minutes per day in our cars which, let’s be honest, for most of humanity is dead time.

Even if you like driving, wouldn’t you prefer to be watching The Batchelor or Fresh Prince reruns? Or, learning the flute? Or, watching Liverpool blow the Premier League title this season?

While Honda Drive is a fascinating innovation for the auto industry, airlines and supermarkets have effectively leveraged customer data for decades. The Qantas Frequent Flyer program, for example, is probably worth more than the airline itself. Therefore the Dream Drive concept is not too much of stretch and isn’t hard to imagine it working well in the auto sector.

In 2017 The Economist espoused that ‘the world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data.’

Smart companies increasingly take this to heart.

*FYI, the train takes 17 minutes, in case you didn’t know.