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Honda ad climbs new heights

Posted in Advertising, Arif Durrani, Latest reporters' blogs May 30th, 2008 by Arif Durrani

Advertisers are now going to breath-taking lengths to cut through the clutter, literally.

Honda is claiming an advertising first after a skydiving team spelling out its name amid freefall live on Channel 4 last night.

The stunt involved 19 stuntmen, lasted 3 minutes and 20 seconds, and is being promoted as the first-ever live spot broadcast in the UK.

Some cynics may question Honda’s claims to a media first; there has been a handful of other ‘as live’ ads aired during events over the past few years, but all of have had a delay, albeit less than a minute, and none it has to said, involved people jumping out of a plane 40,000 ft above Madrid.

Created by Channel 4’s in-house team 4creative, with support from ad agency Wieden & Kennedy and media agency Starcom, the stunt was expertly executed and cannot have failed to grab the attention of the regular Come Dine With Me viewers in addition to the extra 200,000 viewers identified as tuning in for the spectacle from 8.10pm.

According to Channel 4, some 2.3 million viewers were glued to their sets in time to consider Honda’s campaign strapline “Difficult is worth doing” at the end of ad.

Already buzz is mounting ahead of Honda’s official ad campaign launch next week, with unlikely media coverage including the Financial Times and BBC Radio.

From 1 June, Honda’s new brand ads will feature five aeroplanes and a team of skydivers above the Mojave Desert. Activity will then be extended to include print, outdoor and online.

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Tags Honda, Advertising, Stunt, Channel 4

Comments (1)

Dominic Hawken’s comment is....

This is such an excellent example of creative marketing. The success that this advert has already seen online is proof that each viral campaign needs to be tackled in a unique way in order to inspire the online user. There is such a huge gap between making the decision to run a campaign and then actually achieving online success. Even though we have such a growing tolerance for low quality imagery as a result of browsing through home-made videos on YouTube, it is creative advertising campaigns like this one that truly grab our attention. More marketing departments should take heed and take the time to invest in creating a campaign as imaginative and impressive as this.

Posted June 6th, 2008 at 9:21 am

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