Honda is a renowned car brand that has been operating in the passenger vehicle segment for a long time. Over the years, it has expanded market presence from Asian countries to Western ones. With its quality products, the car maker has built-up on a strong relationship with its customers. The company has invested huge sums on commercials and advertisements so as to enhance brand image in domestic and international markets. In recent times, the car company has come up with several innovative and new advertisement commercials, which have caught attention of the world. Out all those, the one that still plays on the minds of people is the 2003 commercial of Honda Accord.
As widely reported, the Japanese car maker splurged around 6.2 million dollars on a 120 second commercial related to Honda Accord. Till date, the commercial that was aired across many countries still finds recognition in lists of best car advertisements of all time. At that time, the Honda Accord commercial won many accolades for being the best and the costliest ad ever made. A brilliant specimen of one of the finest ideas that one can come across, the ad focussed on how a car is actually made to work from a single nut to the engine. What was glaring to see in the commercial was the kind of perfectionism that was achieved by re-shooting the ad over 600 times in order to give an idea of how things are assembled in Honda. At the end of commercial, the narrator said “Isn’t it nice when things just work.’’
The other noticeable aspect of the commercial was that it had no human characters as just machines and parts are required to structure a car. In the ad, all parts were kept separately on floor and were allowed to commune with each other so as to give a working knowledge of how a car is built by Honda. Incredibly, producers did not make use any kind of graphics or visual effects to create the commercial as real parts and equipment were put to task. In the advertisement, almost every component that is used in manufacturing the car is used. Also to mention, the way the auto parts were synchronised made it look like a picture perfect ad.
The agency that undertook the project of Honda was Wieden & Kennedy, an American advertising company that was founded way back in 1982. Under the ad, Honda used its slogan ‘The Power of Dreams’ in order to promote its Accord model. With this ad, it was the first time that any automobile manufacturer moved away from highlighting the merits of its cars to something that is more meaningful and eye-catching. The advertisement was used to produce the seventh generation of Honda Accord line-up in Britain.
Industry experts believe that Honda was successful in setting a precedent in the world of marketing and promotion. At that point of time, the kind of fame achieved by this commercial was incredible considering the fact that sources of promotion were not so advanced. Unlike today, wherein a simple video on YouTube can reach millions, those times required something really special to catch the attention of audiences. Also, over the years, analysts have marvelled at the ability of Honda to comprehend times and subsequently, apply the right sort of advertising strategy.
