There was a day when Honda was the most respected automobile manufacturer in the world. The cars were reliable, well built and solidly, if not spectacularly, designed. I looked forward to Honda advertising. It had an irreverent tone that you might expect from a category leader.
Those days are gone. Today Honda is a company that makes…I’ll say it…boring cars. Admittedly, they’ve suffered a whack of bad luck recently, what with the tsunami, earthquake and floods in Thailand. But what they’ve suffered most from, in my opinion, is a series of cars that don’t arouse any emotional response. I’m not alone in this opinion. In today’s Globe and Mail, critic Michael Vaughan refers to Honda vehicles that “…ellicit[s] yawns from car reviewers”.
So here’s the curious part. Honda’s ad campaign, now running on major TV networks across Canada, leans heavily on a view of the brand that’s thoroughly 1990s – “It’s a Honda”. The strategy assumes that the word – and by extension the brand – still has enough cache to lure buyers into showrooms. and ignores the advancemen
ts made by companies like Hyundai, Kia and more. All the buying public needs to hear today about the new cars is “It’s a Honda”. Wow, sign me up! Maybe in 1998. Not in 2011.
Honda is a brand that needs to work harder to earn the favour of Canadians. “I remember 20 years ago when Honda was the most awesome and exciting car company in the world”, states Vaughan. It’s time the marketing got up to speed, no?
Match-ups for the Championship Round of the CONCACAF Champions League were determined in a draw conducted Tuesday. Toronto faces LA Galaxy, featuring David Beckham. This is a fantastic opportunity for TFC, which has done little to get fans excited in the years since exploding onto the Toronto sports scene.
Make no mistake, the novelty of TFC games has worn off, as more season ticket holders take a hard look at how they spend what little sports entertainment dollar they have going forward. The team has never made the playoffs – in fact never been close. The roster has been a carousel of trades. Even the coaching staff has been in flux. 
Stability in the front office, on the sidelines and between the lines is critical to team marketing efforts at both the corporate and individual ticket sales level. TFC has none of that. The Champions League match-up is critical if that is to change. The team has shown signs of improvement. Key player additions have bolstered the anemic offence. Now, the LA Galaxy come to town, where Beckham’s star power is sure to draw media attention. Will MLSE move the game indoors to Rogers Centre, thus creating a 40,000+ soccer event?
Toronto is starving for a winner. A solid performance – perchance a win on home turf – would give a struggling brand a much-needed boost. A poor showing? MLSE marketing faces an uphill pitch next Spring.
As past creative lead for the AutoShow, I have been anticipating electric vehicles for longer than most. So it’s with considerable confusion – bordering on disdain – that I’ve watched the new marketing roll-out for the Chevrolet Volt.
While not the only purpose, the goal of introducing of electric vehicles is to reduce our dependence on gasoline. The price of oil has skyrocketed and shows no signs of slowing down. The worldwide supply of oil will eventually run out, if we don’t destroy the earth’s ozone layer via the release of greenhouse gases first. My point is, there’s a great opportunity here for GM to lead, to show the world that electric is a viable alternative, that as a company GM is moving boldly into the future, and in the process, adding relevance to the brand.
So how are they marketing Chevy Volt? As the electric car with no limitations. What?! They invest millions to “perfect” the electric technology and then launch it as the electric car that will “take you further”? It takes you further because it’s got…you guessed it…a gas-powered back-up engine! Does this not strike you as back-assed? It’s as if GM is saying, “Don’t let the electricity dissuade you, because it’s got gas to make up for it.” Surely there’s a better story here. The technology. The vision. How buying one is smart, responsible and shows personal leadership. Something!
If you are considering a Volt, it’s because you believe in electric vehicles, Inherently, these consumers are willing to give up certain things to do what they believe is the right thing. At least that’s the way I see it.
Can you imagine being a Marketing Director without the ability to trumpet the benefits of your product in a 30-second TV spot? No pack shots, no pointed dialogue, not even a tagline.
I was reminded of this upon seeing a new Cialis spot. Cialis, as a reminder, is a drug prescribed for men suffering from erectile dysfunction or ED. Regulations surrounding the marketing of such drugs are strict. This is just one of many campaigns that sell drugs without the benefit of, well…benefits. In effect, Cialis, Viagra and others are marketing innuendo. Sexual innuendo, to be exact. It’s fun to watch.
It’s gotta be challenge to be a creative person assigned to these accounts, but a terrific challenge at that. Writers and art directors must be adept at storytelling, with a keen insight into how these products can positively affect a couple’s life. Do they conduct focus groups to see if people “get it”? I can only imagine how many are rejected. The Cialis spot featuring the gentlemen explaining to friends and colleagues why he “looks” different in some unidentifiable way is a personal favourite. It’s nicely done. 
Contrast this with similar campaigns in the US, where the FDA requires advertisements with specifics to mention side effects. This tends to take up half the ad, while the other half shows couples snuggling in forests, fields or hanging out in bathtubs. Ugh.
If storytelling is the new currency of marketing, kudos to the Canadian creatives/marketers who continue to find intriguing ways to put innuendo to good use.
I wouldn’t call myself a sentimentalist. Very rarely has the passing of a public figure caused me to pause and think what the world has lost. John Lennon was one. Steve Jobs is another. The first thing I did was go to the Apple homepage. There, against plain white, was a photo Steve (nobody calls him Mr. Jobs) and two dates – birth and death. Later, I came across this story on the Fast Company website.
Mike Evangelist, former director of product marketing for applications at Apple:
I worked at Apple from 2000 to 2002. I had occasional interaction with Steve as part of my job. But this one event sticks out. It was early on November 30th, 2001, and I was sitting at my desk in 1 Infinite Loop reading the news. I was stunned when I saw a headline saying the George Harrison had died. As with many others of my generation, his music had been an important part of my life for many years. It really hit me hard. I sat there in a dark contemplative mood for quite awhile, feeling quite alone in my grief. But then I realized I wasn’t alone; many of my colleagues at Apple were Harrison fans, and I was sure they’d also feel the need express some of their feelings at this moment. This gave me an idea…one that took considerable courage on my part: I would suggest to Steve that Apple put some sort of tribute on the home page. Up to this point, all my dealings with Steve had been strictly business, and I was afraid he’d think I was some kind of sentimental looney. But my feelings pushed me forward…
Then I waited nervously. Several hours passed with no response, so I concluded that he wasn’t interested and sort of put it out of my mind. But that wasn’t the end of it. Later that evening, I’m back at my desk and get a call from Tom McDonald (the Final Cut Pro product manager) who tells me he had just come from a meeting with the web design group and they were all working overtime tonight because of me. “What? What do you mean?” I asked. Turns out that Steve did not think it was a stupid idea, as I feared, but instead had put the web team to work on coming up with something suitable. So, late that night, after a couple rounds back and forth with Steve to choose the best photos, the Apple home page became this:
