Maposaurus, Napoleon, and 380,000 Steps

The year is 2007: the iPhone launches, The Sopranos series finale airs, and Britney Spears may or may not have hair. It’s Super Bowl XLI — the Chicago Bears vs. the Indianapolis Colts. It’s the first Super Bowl played in the rain, and we’re heading into halftime with the Bears only down by two. Sadly, they would never recover. And the world would never recover from one of the greatest commercials of all time.

I’m talking about Maposaurus. A tongue-in-cheek homage to Ultraman, this commercial featured a befuddled driver fumbling with a giant paper map — remember those? — which bursts into life as a rampaging "Maposaurus" monster. A passerby pulls out his Garmin in-car GPS unit — remember those? — and, in true Ultraman fashion, transforms into a laser-shooting hero and defeats the beast. There’s even a sick rock soundtrack to go with it.

Evil Maposaurus, prepare to meet your doom.
Our hero has the power, glovebox is your tomb.
Grab your Garmin, take on the world.
Grab your Garmin, every boy and girl.
GPS, power, space, and truth.
MP3, traffic alerts, Bluetooth.
The champion of personal navigation. Garmin.

This commercial would go on to receive critical acclaim — and how couldn’t it?

Garmin returned the next year with another clever concept: Napoleon. Racing a red sports car through modern-day Paris, he relies on his trusty Garmin to guide him to battle. When the car screeches to a halt at its destination, Napoleon leaps out expecting war glory — only to be met by his troops presenting him with a small white pony instead of an army. I guess the joke is: even history’s greatest general can’t tell where he is without GPS.

While Napoleon didn’t receive quite the same praise as Maposaurus, both ads are emblematic of Garmin’s cultural moment — the undisputed leader in in-car navigation. When I told people I worked at Garmin, the #1 response I got was: “The car GPS thing?” Another industry, turned into an app on your home screen.

I first saw Maposaurus during my second internship at Garmin, thanks to my then-mentor Alex. I carried that lore with me into my first full-time job the next year. When it came time for the annual corporate walking/step challenge, I already had the perfect team name: Maposaurus. While I don’t have hard proof, I distinctly remember:

• I placed in the top 19 out of > 200 individuals
  • Walking ~380,000 steps over 1 month
• Maposaurus ranked in the top 5 out of > 40 teams

By the end of the competition, others were inspired — and even copied our headers!