Selling Your Car Virtually? Kelley Blue Book Made a Robot to Shake Your Hand Afterward

What do you get when you cross a robot with a car dealer? We're tempted to say, the fiery end of civilization as we know it. And ultimately, that may prove to be correct. For now, though, you get Kelley Blue Book's new brand mascot, the Haptic Android Navigable Dealmaker (H.A.N.D.), developed with ad shop Zambezi and the techies at Unlimited Tomorrow. H.A.N.D. touts Kelley's Instant Cash Offer promotion, which allows people to enter information about their cars online and receive cash offers that can be redeemed at participating dealers. Because such functionality bypasses the personal touch, the client built a jokey 5-foot-tall bot that connects visually to a live dealer and shakes hands like a pro. Hey, wasn't that a Dr. Who plot a few years back? (Of course it wasn't. Daleks don't make deals. Or throw in free floor mats. They just exterminate.) [kickout id="1"] "We targeted tech-forward car shoppers who appreciate convenience and cutting-edge accuracy when it comes to selling their cars," Zambezi creative director Ben George tells AdFreak. "It's the perfect hybrid of a personal transportation device, a robotic hand and a telepresence system," he says. "Car dealers wirelessly connect to a screen via webcam. Robot handshaking and movement are activated through a web-operated control system. The hand itself is triggered by user touch and responds by gripping and moving accordingly." The team considered fitting the bot with a more anthropomorphic hand, but decided that might be even creepier than a cold, hard fist of chunky 3-D printed plastic. Its grip won't pulverize delicate bones, right? George assures us, "There's a fail-safe to prevent hands from being crushed." Phew! Anyway, the mascot made its debut in February, pressing the flesh at the Cleveland Auto Show: [kickout id="2"] "Everyone in Cleveland wanted to shake the H.A.N.D.," George recalls. "One guy grabbed the H.A.N.D. and wouldn't let go until he received the price of a 2010 Cadillac ATS. The remote dealer onscreen used the Kelley Blue Book Price Advisor to look up the price on the spot." Well, that's handy. "There's just one H.A.N.D. prototype for now," he says. "We're still fine-tuning it, but it would be great to deploy H.A.N.D. robots at car shows across the country." No doubt the cyber glad-handing battalions will roll off the assembly lines later on. Oh, in case you were wondering: "H.A.N.D. is also pre-programmed to fist-bump and wave," George says. "We're still working on the high-five." Why bother? When that StubHub master kill-bot takes control of all the machines, H.A.N.D. will just give humanity the big thumbs-down. CREDITS Client: Kelley Blue Book Agency: Zambezi Chief Creative Officer: Gavin Lester Executive Creative Director: Josh DiMarcantonio Creative Directors: Ben George, Nick Rodgers Sr. Art Director: Max Pollak Sr. Copywriter: Brian Hallisey Executive Director of Technology: Justice Erolin Head of Content: Alex Cohn Sr. Digital Producer: Ziv Sibony Group Account Director: Chris Einhauser Account Supervisor: Noelle Belling Director of Communications Planning: Danielle Pak Group Strategy Director: Ryan Richards Production Company: Blink Studios Director: Andrew Gage Director of Photography: Joe Picard Line Producer: Jordan Sider Editorial: Blink Studios Senior Editor: Ling Ly Editor: Stacy Auckland Assistant Editors: Alec Ernest, Dustin Mulstay Audio: KillTheMess/Enger Mixer: Sean McDonald Color Correction: Apache Colorist: Taylor Black Executive Producer: LaRue Anderson Producer: Caitlin Forrest Flame Artist: Ling Ly / Jameson DeSantis Music Supervision: APM Music Song: Human Ingenuity A Composed [and Performed by] Mark Cousins, Adam Saunders Robot Build: Unlimited Tomorrow Robot Fabrication: Flix FX

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Selling Your Car Virtually? Kelley Blue Book Made a Robot to Shake Your Hand Afterward

Zambezi introduces H.A.N.D.

David Gianatasio

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David Gianatasio