Honda

Honda’s live TV ad demonstrates what?

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

I often state that I am turned off when a company tries to make an ad out of a logo, because it demonstrates (a) that the strategy is based on an inflated sense of the mark, and (b) an assumption that we consumers have this great love affair with a company’s name and logo.

This execution from Honda Accord in the UK is admirable, because it tries to demonstrate the tagline (“The power of dreams”) and the slogan “Difficult is worth doing” using not the logo but the brand name.

What was unusual was that this TV ad was broadcast live yesterday at 8.10 PM on Channel 4, using 16 skydivers who form the five letters H-O-N-D-A during a free fall. Before the ad ran, an announcer prefaced it by calling it a ‘live break.’

But while this is entertaining, un-commercial like, and creates some buzz, what exactly does it demonstrate about the car? That difficult challenges are something you could overcome while driving an Accord? It doesn’t compare it to other stunts such as Adidas’ Imposible is nothing work on the vertical face of buildings (during the Olympics). To me it seemed more like “Honda is so cool, we thought you’d skip the bathroom break and see our name in the clouds.”

No traipsing down Sustainability Avenue

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

For the past year, I’ve been hist by two keywords: innovation and sustainability.

It’s hard not to notice the deliberate attempt by many organizations to tie the two concepts into their marketing, strategic planning and advertising.

BMW says it is “preparing for a Hydrogen future” with “pie-in-the-sky, what-if technology.” Honda has invested in a solar cell company. BP is into bio-fuels. But it’s not just consumer brands that are onto it. The city of Phoenix has a “sustainability blueprint. Tucson has a volunteer-led “Sustainable Tucson” network.

The city of London has a Sustainable Development Commission, promoting community-friendly policies for climate change, education and energy.

It’s tricky to balance growth and sustainability –and getting buy in. At ASU, we wrestle with this all the time. The Global Institute of Sustainability, a block from where I work, does a fine job of defining what it involves, and applying it. Here at the Decision Theater, we actually show organizations what sustainability means by taking their data, and putting it into interactive visualization.

So every time I see ads like the one about building cars out of straw (Toyota) or the Land Rover‘s paying for carbon credits on behalf of the customer, I realize many are only scratching the surface. Once you see how small decisions can change the air quality, water table or traffic patterns in your immediate locale, you’ll see that wearing an eco label requires you to do more than build a neat micro-site, or shooting a great commercial.