Who decided that a car horn should be one sound? From the goofy sounding honk of the early 20th century to the blaring horn of the present day, our automotive emotions have been audibly pigeon-holed for far too long.
For those of you looking for a modern way to express yourself on the road, a new LA startup has created an innovative way to send out positive vibes while driving.
launched last month in LA, providing the perfect automotive accessory for the Millennial generation — car emojis.
Whether you want to smile or wink at the driver behind you, MotorMood has you covered with a variety of colors. The battery-powered emoji is hooked up to a remote control trigger that the driver can activate at any time.
“When we started going through ideas of startups, we were thinking about what socially good things we can do,” said co-founder Kina De Santis. “Our core mission is to make the road a happier place and everything we do is towards driving happy. People always ask us to make a middle finger MotorMood or and angry MotorMood — it’s easy to get angry, but we’re focused on making the road a more positive place.”
The idea for the company originated from a USC Business School assignment. Co-founder and president Jesse Kramer had to create 100 startup ideas in a week. Number 31 was a concept for car emojis that he returned to four years after graduation.
The product is now available on Amazon for $25 and MotorMood has sold over $20,000 worth of product in the first few weeks. They are focused on hyperlocal marketing in Santa Monica, but the product has also sold well in Seattle and Texas. The next big step for MotorMood is the UK and Japan.
“In Japan they flash their hazards twice if they want to say thank you to somebody,” De Santis explained. “So they have their own communication, but I think this product adds an extra layer of ability to communicate in cars than what they have now.”
In theory, MotorMood combines two things society loves: emojis and ridiculous car window accessories. And with the product serving as a mobile advertisement for itself, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if you begin seeing MotorMoods on the road in 2016.
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