This week in Brand Champ or Chump, I turn the spotlight to Honda’s Doer film, a two minute ten second animation highlighting the company’s environmental commitment.
This piece goes beyond what Honda’s doing and speaks to the company’s view that everyone can help reduce impact on the environment. Honda says good things come from “doers,” people who do “things to move us forward, to make stuff better.”
As part of this, Honda offers tips on how drivers can make simple, small changes to their behavior to make a difference to the world around them.
So, is this campaign a brand champ, chump or somewhere in between?
I don’t feel right going with champ or chump. To me, the piece wasn’t mind blowing or awe inspiring. I have to go with somewhere in between, leaning to champ.
I like the simplicity of the little red car and the use of toys in the animation (the artistic quality is fantastic).
But mostly, I like how Honda takes what can be a big and complicated message and makes it easy to grasp. Certainly this piece does a good job speaking to Honda’s green credentials and reinforces to consumers that the environment is one of the company’s brand pillars.
Honda’s reputation has largely been built upon quality and good fuel economy. Toyota, mostly because of its Prius, has nurtured, by far, the strongest image for environmental friendliness. However, thanks to work like the Doer, Honda is closing the gap.
Not awe inspiring, but very good.
Watch it for yourself and let me know what you think? Is Honda’s Doer film:
- A brand champ?
- A brand chump?
- Somewhere in between?
If the video does not appear below, please see the animation here.
Be sure to explain the reasoning behind your choice. And yes, you can cheat like me and say whether you’re leaning champ or chump.
Not the absolute champ, nevertheless close to it. The idea itself is rather old, but the implementation excels. I like the narrator voice and animation, with such a topic you couldn’t do better (more inspiring or touching).
The TVC is too long for efficient broadcasting in TV worldwide. It could work with some viral / avalanche technics spreading via internet. For e.g. A global “to do” list on http://www.honda.com, where everyone adds what he/she thinks is necessary.
Mentux, interestingly enough, Honda’s biggest competitor for most environmentally friendly auto brand, Toyota, has such an inclusive feature on its “Why not? site. See http://www.toyotawhynot.com/ …
Notice the common denominator between Toyota and Honda here. Each takes an inclusive approach. Honda says everyone is a doer. Toyota asks for everyone’s big ideas to help.
Champ!
Without trying to converted the unconvinced (by now, a mere handful of blind reactionary hold-outs who think the environment is just fine, thanks) this spot expresses the values shared by environmentally-conscious consumers – and smartly, that means most consumers. We all know that any brand that shares core values with its consumers is well positioned to build long-term, brand-loyal relationships.
Using Garrison Keillor for VO is brilliant. He’s known from NPR, which is where intelligent folks (from all political and philosophical persuasions) turn for information, trends, news, entertainment, etc. and his work has always been founded on true, familiar American values.
Too many other marketers who are either in the petro fuel or automotive biz have often come across like chimps instead of champs or chumps with messaging with eco-focused buzz words and saying “green” a lot, with little or no depth or authentic reality behind them. Honda’s spot is spot-on!
Jack, love what you say above about the need for brands to share core values with those they care about. Relationships are built upon common denominators, about some kind of meeting between minds and hearts… to the point that people want to be associated with the brand.
I also agree with your assessment that Honda isn’t just throwing out all of the right words and checking the box. They are telling a story… and it comes across credibly… high say, high do.
Thanks onbrands, for providing me with a common ground on Toyota’s “why not?”. I haven’t seen it before, now it becomes obvious that marketers of both companies were playing on the same environmental issue, most probably even considering move of competition.
Thumbs up for Honda in this case, it leaves more space for consumer to be engaged. A soft approach, not too intense involvement required from the consumer side and obviously lower budget required for implementation.
I would rather have had Donovan doing the narration like he did for his story “The Point” instead of Garrison Keillor who always comes across a bit “better than thou.” Not a bad spot though. Common sense.
I was halfway through before I realized the voiceover was Garrison Keillor (or a very close sound-alike). If people “get” that more quickly, then they will forgive taking 30 seconds or so to even start talking about the issue, because that’s his style. But I didn’t realize that at first, and if I hadn’t been told ahead of time what the ad was about, I would have been gone. So this could be a whole lot more effect if
1) There’s a splash page at the beginning that has a caption like “Garrison Keillor’s Eco-Driving Tips”
2) It aired in places where Keillor is a known quantity
Shel Horowitz, author of Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World and five other marketing books
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For me, Honda’s Doer film is nearly a champ. It’s appropriately inspirational, relevant, and action-oriented in a way that builds imagery around their values. I expect it will connect effectively with individuals with similar values and also help convert those who are concerned about their own fuel economy. Company values are indeed powerful when demonstrated through employee actions.
What concerns me is that the execution of the messages with visual imagery feels too light-hearted, almost childish, when you view it next to the other “Power of Dreams” films on the honda website, which are much more serious and weighty by comparison: http://dreams.honda.com/#/allstories These films connect with me more deeply, and with a much different look and feel. They are more personal and effectively use real people to represent the brand. Indeed, these share the same tagline with Doer, but the visual imagery is very different. There is common ground in message, but I also sense noise when exposed to both.
Compared to Toyota’s “Why Not?” site, Honda isn’t as inclusive. In fact, Toyota feels almost too inclusive to be influencing current car buyers. Toyota’s execution suggests to me that Toyota somehow either needs help with innovation or they are simpy humoring us to play in their world. Much of Toyota’s site also seems fairly disconnected from driving. By comparison, Honda feels more like a sincere authority and partner. Honda could still connect Doer more effectively with its website, possibly with a list of other best-practices related to driving.
Personally, I’ve historically associated the “what” of Honda with my early 90′s Honda ATV (which I still ride), our mid 90′s Civic DX (resold) and our early 00′s Civic EX (going strong). For me, these have embodied quality and sporty. I’ve never really had much knowledge about the “who” of Honda, and I think these films help with that.
I’m leaning close to Champ, but like you it’s not the best I’ve seen. Although I have to say it got me more pumped when it got to the second half about what else could people do… that really could come sooner, or some how make the connection. Also, I recently heard Toyota outline their programs and what they’ve done with plants, etc. It’s a very complicated message to explain in a short amount of time. Honda has done a great job of getting that through with the water droplets, etc. I could repeat what they do now by having watched this. So in that way as a viral marketing tool, they’ve succeeded.
Also, I respond well to the stream-of-conscious style since that’s how my brain ends up at many an idea, so overall, I think it works – keeping the car in motion helps visually stay attentive. I haven’t seen it run anywhere… will this be web only or air on TV?
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Thanks to everyone for sharing their views on Honda’s Doer animation.
Overall, based on feedback posted here and elsewhere, we’re calling this one a Brand Champ. Seems like everyone appreciated the simplicity and spirit of the message.
I’ve just posted a new Brand Champ or Chump piece, which follows up on Honda’s animation with one from Toyota.
Does Toyota get it right? Go take a look and let me know what you think: http://tinyurl.com/q72ove
Cheers.