Why 1,500 people bought the Honda Fit Without Ever Really Seeing it
F/NAZCA SAATCHI & SAATCHI CREATES 'INVISIBLE' HONDA THAT CAN ONLY BE SEEN WITH A TABLET
Trying before buying is usually standard practice when it comes to big spending. You wouldn't buy a TV or sofa until you'd tried it, and you certainly wouldn't buy a car.
But F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi's campaign for the Honda Fit 2015 managed to convince 1500 people to buy the Honda Fit without ever seeing it in the "flesh".
The strategy was implemented in Honda dealers from all over Brazil. Clients could visualise details of the car simply by directing the camera of a tablet at a "Virtual Carpet", which marks out the exact size of the new car.
More than 38,000 people interacted with the new Honda Fit virtually and 1,500 bought it even before it was available in stores.
Honda highlights Space Invaders in ad for new City model
Honda is promoting its new City with a campaign playing on the car’s roomy interior and the battle in the city for personal space.
Created by Leo Burnett Melbourne, the commercial features a catchy tune about space invaders and features people battling the problem in different locations from the ATM line, to the car park to public transport before introducing the new City model as the solution, with the line “with all the room, features and technology you need, you can reclaim your personal space in the all new Honda City”.
Leo Burnett Melbourne executive creative director Jason Williams said: “After home and work, the car is technically our ‘third’ space. We spend a lot of our lives behind the wheel, so it’s important this space provides drivers with all the comfort, connectivity and room they desire. It should feel like their very own personal sanctuary.”
Launched last Sunday, the commercial, shot by The Sweet Shop’s Noah Marshall, is supported with cinema, outdoor, direct, online, social and dealer communications.
Honda Australia general manager communications and customer Jason Miller said: “Honda engineers have managed to do the impossible with the new Honda City by creating a light car that’s loaded with clever, compact-thinking both inside and out.”
Join a Conversation Headed for Catastrophe in Honda's Anti-Texting Ad A cautionary tale, told through emojiByAlfred Maskeroni
April 15, 2014, 12:49 PM EDT
On the heels of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's sobering scenario announcing National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, Honda and agency RPA bring us the latest campaign in the effort to curb texting and driving.
This spot (and accompanying print ad, below) pull the viewer into a text conversation happening on a mobile device, presumably on a road somewhere in America.
The dialogue is an authentic glimpse into the life of a young adult, replete with the usual shorthand and emojis common in casual banter. Without spoiling exactly what happens next, the ad succeeds in creating a unique message that is graphically smart, simple and powerful.
CREDITS Client: Honda
Wednesday, 2 April 2014
Honda Goes Inside the Civic Tourer, and Everything Else, in Brilliantly Constructed Ad
"For those who love the inside as much as the outside, this is for you."
IDEA: You hear it often—it's what's inside that counts. That's especially true for an automaker touting a roomy vehicle, like Honda has with its new Civic Tourer wagon in Europe.
To advertise it, Wieden + Kennedy focused on all kinds of interiors in an amazing 60-second spot called "Inner Beauty." The quirky, charming, exquisitely crafted ad takes the viewer, in a first-person view, zooming across a desert and through all sorts of objects—from a golf ball to a suitcase to the Civic Tourer itself—revealing their curious innards.
The brief to W+K was, "There is an estate hidden inside"—i.e., the Civic Tourer has as much room as an estate vehicle (a big van/station wagon in the U.K.). "We decided it was interesting to focus on the human curiosity of looking inside things," said W+K creative director Scott Dungate, "plus the joy you experience when you're surprised and pleased by what you see."
COPYWRITING: The ad opens with the viewer speeding across a desert floor as Garrison Keillor, the brand's longtime voice in Europe, says: "For those who love the inside as much as the outside, this is for you."
Quickly, the camera travels up to and through a golf ball, camera, wrapped gift (with a robot inside), amplifier, suitcase (containing clothes and a snow globe of San Francisco) and chest of drawers (with mostly socks). At the end, it explores the Civic Tourer's interior, then pulls back to show all the previous items flying into its trunk.
"There," says Keillor. "Aren't you glad you looked?"
There was a lot of debate over which objects to include. "I still wish we'd cut through a rock revealing a fossil and 'crystal cave,' but that was a casualty of the process," said Dungate.
The spot ends with the vehicle name onscreen, followed by the Honda name, "The Power of Dreams" tagline, honda.co.uk URL and #CivicTourer hashtag.
ART DIRECTION/FILMING: The visuals are a mix of live action, stop motion and CGI. "We ended up taking things more surreal, but didn't want to feel the CGI too much," said Dungate. "While the final aesthetic is 'hyper-real,' I think it feels quite fresh as it uses a lot of real textures."
Oscar-nominated Nexus directors Smith & Foulkes, whose Honda work goes back to 2004's Grand Prix-winning "Grrr," filmed the live action in Teruel, Spain, and the stop motion in a studio. They wove in the CGI with help from Time Base Arts.
"Quirky was important," said Dungate. "It needed to be playful, human and warm—which can be difficult with inanimate objects and a 'slicing technique.' "
TALENT: Keillor, 71, brings a warm folksiness. "He adds humility, which is a point of difference in a category full of overclaim," Dungate said. "Perhaps even more useful is, it's good for when you're writing. If you can't imagine him saying it, it's probably not right."
The driver of the car is almost invisible. "I didn't want him in there at all," said Dungate. "But someone had to drive, so I lost that argument."
SOUND: There's no music—it's all sound design, rich and complex. "Sound played a big role in bringing humanity to the objects," Dungate said. "It also plays a massive role in storytelling, setting up what the objects are and the lifestyle story relevant to the audience. Take, for example, the little kid laughing in the camera. Or the sound of the jet going into the suitcase. These all help you get the story of each object really quick, which is important as we move through things quite fast."
MEDIA: The spot broke first in Germany, then in other European markets. It's running for a month in the U.K.
THE SPOT:
Monday, 24 March 2014
Honda: Vacuum
A series of ads were created to promote the all new Honda Odyssey 2014, which is the only MiniVan with a built-in Vacuum.
Tuesday, 25 February 2014
Honda: Road Movies
The 'Internavi pocket', is an easy-to-use Smartphone app version of a two-way communication car navigation system. Created just for Honda drivers for a more fulfilling driving experience, this app even has the ability to create road movies.
A free camera app, the 'Internavi pocket' allows users to easily record memories of a car trip or outing and automatically turn them into road movies with a stylish high-quality finish. In addition to auto-mode, which automatically films according to distance or time travelled, it is also possible to film manually.
Tuesday, 4 February 2014
Honda Now Lets You 3D Print Its Concept Car Models
Honda has released 3D printing files for several of its past concept cars, letting you print models of said cars at home. The files, available over at honda-3d.com and published under the Creative Commons 4.0 license, currently let you print out five concepts: the Fuya-Jo, FSR Concept, Kiwami, Puyo, and the NSX Concept.
While plastic models are still very, very far away from real cars, the project makes us wonder when we'll be able to actually 3D print a fully operable vehicle at home. 3D printing has advanced extremely fast in the past year or two. This week, Stratasys unveiled a $330,000 printer which can produce multi-color, multi-material objects, and in early January, MakerBot announced a huge 3D printer which lets you print up to 10 items at once.
Wednesday, 15 January 2014
Honda's 'Hands,' Fiat's Typeface Drive Off With Top Honors at Auto Ads of the Year One Show picks its winnersBy Tim Nudd
January 14, 2014, 2:05 PM EST
The 2014 One Show Automobile Advertising of the Year awards are being presented today at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. And Honda has grabbed the top prizes in both the TV and online video categories.
Fiat won in the print category, Hyundai in interactive, and BMW and Toyota shared the prize in experiential.
Check out all the winners (and the finalists) below. Some solid work here, but where oh where is the RAM "Farmer" spot?
Category: TV Commercials
Winner: Honda "Hands," Wieden + Kennedy, London
Other finalists: Dodge "It Comes Standard," Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore. Honda "Illusions," mcgarrybowen, London Daimler/Smart "Offroad," BBDO Germany, Dusseldorf Land Rover "Roam Free," Young & Rubicam, New York
Category: Online Video
Winner: Honda "Sound of Honda/Ayrton Senna 1989," Dentsu, Tokyo
Winner: Fiat "Letters," Leo Burnett Tailor Made, São Paulo, Brazil Fiat created its own typeface for posters warning people against texting and driving.
On Thursday night, Ford will open its fourth pop-up store on Market Street in downtown San Francisco, throwing a party intended to draw in curious and perhaps skeptical West Coasters.
In each quarter this year, Ford has used a vacant space for a “Go Further” shop for 30 days. People who come in can’t buy anything, but they can take a look at a few Ford cars and participate in uniquely themed activities. Ford says they are trying to make a positive impression on locals, improving the image of the brand and getting people to look at their cars.
In California, Ford is well behind Japanese rivals Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co.
Indeed, Ford doesn’t have a dealership in the city limits of San Francisco.
The store that opens Thursday will be film-themed. People who drift into the store can do a casting call for chance for a role in an independent movie Ford is sponsoring. Other shops offered fitness classes, cooking classes and competitions and art galleries, said Travis Calhoun, who handles Ford marketing in the Western U.S.
“We have increased purchase consideration and brand favorability in the region around the stores,” Calhoun said. Each store has gotten progressively more visitors and the final store is expected to build on that trend because of its location in a prime foot traffic area. Ford said it has generated about 10,000 dealer leads from the events.
Each month, Ford executives talk about how its products are starting to sell well in the Sunshine State. It’s important because one in 10 new cars in the U.S. are sold there and it’s also been a challenging location for domestic auto makers. Calhoun said the San Francisco region, which is one of 22 regions Ford differentiates in the U.S., has had the second-largest sales increase this year and has grown 17% year-to-date.
According to Polk, a firm that provides research based on registration data, Ford’s sales at dealerships in California made up about 8.75% of all sales compared with Toyota’s 23% and Honda’s 15%. This number doesn’t include fleet sales. Hyundai Motor Co.’s market share, which has one third the volume of Ford nationally, has even higher retail sales than Ford in California. Ford’s national market share is about 15%, a figure that includes sales to commercial fleets and retail sales to consumers.
Marketing chief Jim Farley said Ford is a challenger brand in California, meaning it has to conquest sales from people who normally would only consider Toyota or Honda.
Indeed, Farley has said even taken steps to hide the Ford name in commercials and on certain vehicles so that people don’t just shut down and immediately disregard the vehicle.
Tuesday, 7 January 2014
THE BEST BRANDED ENTERTAINMENT OF 2013 EXAMPLES HONDA HELPS SAVE THE DRIVE-IN THEATER Honda Motor Co. went old school with an effort to save aging drive-in movie theaters unable to upgrade their venues with new digital projectors. The Japanese automaker wound up helping nine theaters across the country and put a spotlight on an area of the exhibition biz that’s become an aging relic but a nostalgic part of car culture.
AUDI REVS UP YEAR-ROUND DEALS When it comes to entertainment, carmakers typically put their marketing dollars around a single summer tentpole, but Audi made sure the German auto brand was associated with top properties year-round, with showy promos in and around “Iron Man 3,” “The Wolverine” and “Ender’s Game,” while also sponsoring the Emmys, AFI Fest and the Toronto Film Festival and hosting events around the Golden Globes and Oscars. It also one-upped Mazda this summer with a humorous short starring the two Spocksaround the release of “Star Trek Into Darkness.” Mazda was the film’s official car partner.
Also noteworthy:Infiniti produced “Deja View,” a choose-your-adventure film. Jaguar cast “Homeland’s” Damian Lewis in its own film, “Desire.”Canon gave new filmmakers a push with “Project Imaginat10n.”Doritos put a WWE fan in the ring at “SummerSlam.” And a brand could have generatedsome buzzworthy goodwill with fans of “Veronica Mars” by picking up the tab when its creator was raising money for a bigscreen version on Kickstarter. The film bows at Sundance.
Forecast: A brand will step up to produce an original series for Netflix, Hulu, Amazon or the new videogame consoles from Microsoft and Sony. Carmakers will also generate considerable mileage from high-profile placements in films like “Transformers: Age of Extinction” and “Need for Speed.”
Perhaps you've seen RPA's new TV spots for the Honda Odyssey, which has the world's first in-car vacuum cleaner. The ads, voiced by Neil Patrick Harris and Rainn Wilson, feature junk on the minivan's floor—crayons, candy, lint balls, tiny toys—chatting obliviously before getting sucked up by the vacuum.
On Tuesday, RPA launched a social element, in which @Honda is tweeting at snack and toy brands, warning them about what's in store if they fall on the floor of an Odyssey. The idea is fun, and the tweets are generally decent—but the added bonus is that many of the brands are responding or retweeting, extending the reach of the communications beyond Honda's 176,000 followers. Well, OK, there have been snarky replies, too.
Check out some of the tweets below, along with the TV spots.
Honda uses telemetry driving data recorded from Ayrton Senna's world record lap during qualifying for Formula One Japanese Grand Prix in 1989. Twenty years after he died Honda bringsback the raw engine sounds of the race car without the car physically being on the track. LED light fixtures and thousands of speakers were used.
Friday, 2 August 2013
Honda Australia leverages LinkedIn to promote its all-new accord + build an A-Team via LinkedIn, ZenithOptimedia and Leo Burnett Melbourne
Honda Australia has launched the "A-Team", an online campaign leveraging LinkedIn contacts to build an A-Team to promote the all-new Accord.
The concept was developed by LinkedIn and ZenithOptimedia, with creative guidance from Leo Burnett Melbourne. LinkedIn was responsible for the production of the API.
Says Kevin Lillie, Honda Australia senior manager marketing: "We chose the LinkedIn platform and use of their Application Programming Interface (API) to target an audience of mid-tier affluent professionals and engage them in a more personalised and creative way.
"We are particularly pleased with the way professionals can engage with the Accord's features and select connections that best fit a particular position on their team."
Members select the position that best describes them and then choose from their professional contacts on LinkedIn to fill the remaining four positions on their team, creating the strongest, most impressive A-Team.
Each position on the team has a different point criteria to guide the member when choosing their A-Team. The goal is to score the highest number of points by choosing an A-Team most aligned with the positions. The winner will receive AUD$3000 worth of business technology products.
Says Matt Tindale, director, marketing solutions in Australia and New Zealand for LinkedIn: "We've really enjoyed working with Honda and ZenithOptimedia to develop a concept that would allow for social sharing with their target audience. The Honda Accord A-Team campaign is another great example of a brand using LinkedIn to come up with a more creative approach to reach and engage their target audience. This is the first automotive campaign in Australia to use the LinkedIn API."
Honda (UK) and W+K London has launched a brand film to follow sponsorship of Channel 4 documentaries. Curiosity is at the heart of Honda's latest brand campaign which focuses on thecurious spirit that has made the engineering company the largest engine manufacturer and racing company in the world.
The 2 minute brand film created by Wieden +Kennedy London will launch this week through Honda UK's social media channels: http://youtu.be/Dxy4n0UT82o Collective London has also created an interactive website around the film, called The Engineer's Cut, which features notes and snippets of stories from the engineerâs perspective. This will be available to view at www.honda.co.uk/hands from Thursday 4th July.
Honda's global success has been attributed to its inquisitive and innovative spirit, which has seen them pioneer everything from their cars and bikes to the HondaJet, marine engines, ATVs, Lawnmowers, humanoid robot (ASIMO) & solar panel concept car.
In the film we see an engineer's inquisitive hands intricately play around and transition between Honda products and in the process show viewers the story of Honda's greatest achievements.
Olivia Dunn, Head of Marketing at Honda (UK) commented: "We are particularly excited about this year's campaign as it celebrates and really brings to life all the achievements the company has made over the last 65 years, leading it to become the largest engine manufacturer and racing company in the world. Honda has plenty to shout about and has lots of stories to tell and we want to shout as loud as we can!"
Tony Davidson and Kim Papworth, the Executive Creative Directors at Wieden + Kennedy London said: "Honda has always believed in The Power of Dreams. This has continued to lead them to new insights and technologies. We wanted to tell the story of Honda's inquisitive spirit and the brand's journey of innovation over the last 65 years, in a new and engaging way. We are celebrating the curiosity of the Honda engineers, who have made Honda what it is today."
Smith and Foulkes, the animation directors at Nexus Productions said: "There is a kind of folklore to Honda and they are held with great affection and justifiable pride. We wanted to pay tribute to that by encapsulating some little touches within the film for the more knowledgeable eye that referred to these landmark moments in the company's history."
Wednesday, 19 June 2013
Toyota tops brand value survey
Matt Campbell Published: May 22, 2013 - 10:31AM
Toyota has taken top spot as the world’s most valuable car brand, according to the annual Millward Brown Brandz Top 100 survey.
Toyota was beaten last year by German maker BMWafter a string of natural disasters took their toll on the Japanese maker’s operations in its home country and in Thailand, but it clawed its way back to post a 12 per cent increase to its global brand value in 2013 and is now rated at $24.5 billion.
Toyota jumped five positions up the Brandz rankings in 2013, taking 23rd spot. Topping the list as the most valuable brands were Apple, with a worth of $185.1b, followed by Google ($113.7b), and IBM ($112.6b).
According to Millward Brown, Toyota’s increase followed on both from it having “rehabilitated a reputation for reliability compromised by the recall problems of 2010”, and also due to its focus on hybrid technology and lowering the cost of ownership for buyers.
BMW saw a two per cent drop in its brand value on the back of the European market slowdown, and ranked in 24th position with a brand value of $24.0b. However, German luxury car brand Mercedes-Benz'svalue rose by 11 per cent to $18.0b on the back of a number of new product launches, jumping three places to 43rd most valuable brand.
"The automotive brands that grew the most were the ones that launched the most models," Millward Brown global brand director Peter Walshe told US site Automotive News. This shouldn't be a problem for both BMW and Toyota in the coming years, with the two top-ranking brands having signed an agreement to collaborate on a number of new models in the future.
"Brands must continue to meet the expectations they raised in 2012 for improved quality and luxury features at all price points, helping them to attract younger customers and cultivate a future clientele," Walshe is quoted as saying.
Hondadropped six spots to 71st with a value of $12.4b (down two per cent), while Nissan’s brand value rose to $10.2b (up three per cent) but it fell down five spots in the ranks.
Volkswagen – the brand that hopes to become the number one-selling nameplate globally by 2018 – came in 100th position with value of $8.8b, a jump of three spots on last year.
A number of car brands just missed the cut for the Top 100, including Ford ($7.6b – up eight per cent), Audi ($5.5b – up 18 per cent), Hyundai($4.0b – up 11 per cent) and Lexus ($3.5b – up two per cent).
With668,000 paying digital subscribers, and revenue of $2bn in 2012, The New York Times is often held aloft as some sort of poster child of traditional news’ ability to transform into a successful digital enterprise.
With that in mind, The New York Times has lifted opened the doors of its paywall ever so slightly from today, letting all NYTimes.com andmobile Web/app usersaccess video for free.
The New York Times says that access is entirely open and unconditional, and is available to all users regardless of their subscription status. Any video views won’t count against the 10-article per month limit set for non-subscribers.
The initiative comes courtesy of a somewhat strange hook-up with Acura, the luxury car division of Japanese automaker Honda, and Microsoft. Looking at the videos currently available, there doesn’t seem to be any obvious branding in place from either company beyond the initial announcement message.
“As we continue to tell stories through video and increase our offerings, we want to ensure NYTimes.com users can watch and explore our video content with ease,” says Denise Warren, executive vice president, Digital Products and Services Group, The New York Times, said. “We are grateful to Acura and Microsoft for providing the support we need to continue to expand our best-in-class video content and deliver it to our vast NYTimes.com audience.”
NYTimes.com features live and on-demand video by category, including Editor’s Choice, World, Business, Science, Opinion and more.
This is a significant move by The New York Times, given that most of its content sits firmly behind a paywall. Opening its videos to the masses will help open it to further potential subscribers, but more than that it can boost its viewing figures significantly, which in turn should drive up advertising costs for companies looking for a slot in the pre-roll ads.
Also, The New York Times is already making its videos available through other channels, including YouTube, so it does seem to make sense that it would just open the gates to the content through its main portal.
A smart move for sure, and one that comes just a month after itdebuted the prototype of an all-new NYTimes.com, with a cleaner app-like design. Only five months into 2013, The New York Times is really pushing its efforts in the digital space, and making its videos free for everyone can only help its efforts.
