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?
