Be more Honda. It's good for you.

Why do big brands have to appeal to everyone all the time? Apparantly Honda does not believe in that mantra. And I thank them for that. For many years they have delivered daring and different campaigns in Britain. It's therefore with great pleasure to report a smart communication vehicle (pun intended) from USA.
Dreams. A series of documentaries that picks up inspiration from the brilliant british Hondamentalism campaign. Not sure if campaign is the correct wording for these 2 projects from Honda, but they are surely inspirational. What is it about Dreams from Honda that makes it so special? First of all, they don't talk about the actual product they are selling (cars and motors mostly) but what lies behind creating that product.
Honda is using internet to build a stronger emotional connection with possible customers by sharing thoughts that in the past was internal only. And in many cases still are internal only. Honda, on the other hand gives fans insight.


The site itself sits in the minimalism dept. There are a few documentaries and the short text above. That's it. usually sites like these are filled up with extra stuff that has no true meaning. Honda Dreams have one mission and that is to give us the chance to see the documentaries they have have produced. The films do the talking. Clutter that up and the content of the films disappear.
Purity is not the only aspect to applaud. Notice the sharing part. All films can be embedded, linked to and best of all downloaded. I cannot count the times I meet brand owners who are afraid what might happen if people can download films. What to worry? If a person download a film about your brand from your own site, I would call that person a fan. A big fan. That's just beautiful. Do you really need a better explanation for why you should make your online films downloadable? If you fear uncontrolled spreading then welcome to 09. You don't control. Period. Accept it, move on, loose the fear and love thy fans.


Nuff said. Here is one of the films from Honda, which by the way have ranked up more than 1 million views alltogether so far (that does not include YouTube numbers). Impressive when you have engineers talking about cars in the future and why failure is good for progress. Geeks, gotta love them.



Hmm. GM might be part of the original american dream but them japanese carmakers sure have something good going for the new american dream. Don't you agree?

Read more...

Art(ist) for hire?

Here's a thought for marketers and advertising agencies.

The other day I talked to a friend of mine who happens to be one of the most talented young Norwegians painters (in my mind at least) about the art market. She noted that it wasn't exactly flurishing, and she told me that there were worries among her peers that they might not be able to live of their creativity.
Big shame, but even bigger shame, is the loss of this surplus of sheer creativity. There are definately artists that does not never ever sell out to commercial forces, but there are definately those who understand the benefits (and by that I mean more than cold cash).



WK London and Hi-Res! asked several artists to create short movies for Nokia. Good! But there's room for much more. Put a painter in a room with a programmer and a webdesigner and see what happens. Perhaps a exiting webpage. We are becoming generically boring in our web precense. This might be part of the antidote. Also, it will help artists continue to be able to make a living using their brilliant creativity. Society does not thrive because of the basics, but because of the art that inspire us.
Am I being naive? Perhaps. But I still think I'm onto something. So will you action? Go out and get inspired?
In the meantime (while you ponder if you have the guts) enjoy this Nokia movie.


Nokia E71 launch / 6 Billion People, 6 Billion Colours from Universal Everything on Vimeo.

Read more...