You just had to be there... Goosebumps!

Hello Creative Folks,

This edition is for the hard core Formula One fans. But before that a small personal anecdote:

I sat as one of the droplets in the sea of yellow at the Chepauk stadium on Sunday (May 12th, 2024), witnessing the Chennai Super Kings take on Rajasthan Royals in their final home game this season. We were a wicket away from Thala Dhoni entering the field, when the home team started cheering for the bowlers of the opponents - very unlikely for fans to watch their own wicket fall. But it was all understood - because the aura of the man that was set to enter has defined the Chepauk experience for the last 15 years.

I saw the connection between fans and their idol materialize right in front of my eyes.

This feeling reminded me of how Honda revived Senna for fans at the Suzuka track. Before Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher, there was the GOAT Ayrton Senna. (Of course, there were other champions, but just roll with it).

Honda, in 2013, decided to bring Senna ‘back to life’ by using data from his legendary 1989 Suzuka lap and recreate it on the same track by using lights and sounds. It’s almost like Senna came back to drive one last lap because he missed driving.

Crux of the video: Honda has produced a haunting yet breathtaking video. Drawing inspiration from Senna's 1989 lap at Suzuka, they've recreated both the sound and visuals of the iconic moment, complete with circuit lighting. Prepare to be amazed and get ready for goosebumps.

To understand why this works, you need to understand Senna. The man was a racing LEGEND. He was among the last few contemporary greats to lose his life on the racetrack and is continued to be mourned by racing fans around the world 20 years after his death. A three-time world champion, to say Senna had a ‘career’ would be an understatement - it’s a story. Filled with moments of grit, rivalry, passion and absolute stardom.

Talk to any racing fan of the Senna era, they almost always say, “You just had to be there”. Honda heard that and said “Challenge accepted”

This was not so much about the technology as much as it was about the man they were celebrating with the technology. Throes of F1 fans in Japan got to experience Senna. They went from “You had to be there” to “I was there.”. Old fans revelled in nostalgia, and the newer fans understood what the former meant all along.

Particularly while using technology to recreate or bring back to life someone from the dead, a lot of ethical and moral questions arise. In advertising, you can be sure the brand manager that provided the brief would be fired after Twitter goes berserk. That’s where Honda stands out here—They’re not selling anything. They are not even using imagery. They’re just celebrating Senna by tapping into the essence.

This ad uses data from Honda’s Telemetry System, a technology that transmits driving data wirelessly and analyses it on a workstation. Honda introduced this technology to F1 prior to the rest of the world. And this specific lap is called the Senna Lap, as it was the fastest lap in the world.

Data when expressed through technology, can evoke emotions that will live a lifetime. 

Closer home— Imagine we had a robot that would imitate every shot played and every wicket taken during the 2011 World Cup Final at Wankhede, including THAT six. Or a VR headset that gave you a realistic experience of what it was like to be there - sights, sounds, everything.

I write this edition after having watched what could possibly have been MS Dhoni’s last match at Chepauk, the home ground of the Chennai Super Kings. Despite my teams win, I walked out with a heavy heart, recounting every single time I showed up to the same stadium just to watch the man whack a few around the park— this includes a practice session where the stadium was as full as a match day. It’s hard to describe—

I do worry that an entire generation of Chennai Super Kings fans will not know the absolute euphoria that this shared experience brought about. I worry a little more about how I’ll never be able to experience it again. Of course, something similar— but not exactly this.

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