This is great stuff. I had written earlier about the pre-release hype surrounding the new Honda commercial, ‘Difficult is worth doing’. The attempt was to get consumers to look forward to the release of the ad by creating anticipation.
Honda made advertising history of sorts last week, when they aired a a ‘live’ television commercial in the UK! The TVC, featuring a team of skydivers leaping out of a plane in Madrid, to form the words HONDA, was shown live on Channel 4.
Apparently, there was a taped back-up in case bad weather prevented the jump. According to Guardian, Honda’s £500,000 stunt was aired between 8.10pm and 8.13pm on May 29, during which time ratings increased from just over 2 million to 2.2 million viewers.
This is still not the main commercial (which will break June 1 onwards) but gives a glimpse of what to expect. The ‘Difficult is worth doing’ effort is a means of gaining publicity for Honda’s new multi-million pound ad campaign, which features 45 skydivers promoting the Honda Accord by creating a series of shapes over the Mojave desert to reflect new features on the car.
Isn’t the whole idea and this particular ‘live’ advert awesome? Honda has been consistently pushing the boundaries of creativity, right from their Cog ad. With this particular idea, they have also ‘walked the talk’. They simply did not stop at merely claiming that ‘Difficult is worth doing’. They have gone and done it themselves.
The campaign further blurs the boundaries of advertising & entertainment. Hats off to the team involved!
