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?

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Why would you visit Oslo?

Who visits Oslo? Head of Tourism (Visit Oslo), Tor Sannerud, is skeptical to promote Oslo to young tourists. He claims the city is too expensive for young travellers, so he don't want to promote the city to a younger demographic. It is therefore pleasing to inform that the Internet has once again revealed perceived public opinion to be at best, biased.
As an active user of the travel community TripAdvisor, I was curious to take a look at my own city, Oslo, and see what other travellers thought of my not so elegant city. (TripAdvisor is the world's largest community Web site for travelers where you read other's experiences travelling the world).
In the picture below you see a list of the most popular attractions Oslo has to offer.



My personal hangout, Cafe Mono, on top of the list!? Rock bar of the year a few years ago, but being so unique that even foreigners see this as a Must experience was a bit of a surprise.
So in grave journalistic spirit I scooped down to Mono (perhaps for a glass as well..) and asked if they had a lot of visits from abroad. Indeed, the bartender claimed it to be in periods insanely many of "those foreigners". Even the well respected SüdDeutche Zeitung had dropped in to make a serious story on the bar. (It is a dark, no frills bar with excellent rock music).
Travel Guru Jens A. Risnæs said the following in an interview in Aftenposten (Norwegian newspaper) in July 2007. Youth are tomorrows former of the general opinion. In order to improve our reputation abroad, we need young people to come here. Why don't the tourist board acknowledge this obvious fact?
Risnæs is onto something. But will Head of Tourism Tor Sannerud and his colleagues listen to the existing storytellers? There are many who clearly has enjoyed the small unique experiences in Oslo. But you don't see them sitting outside the Viking Ship Museum asking retired Germans about what is good or not in Oslo. And unfortunately that's the storytellers Visit Oslo listens to.
So what can marketers learn from this? The answer to whom your potential customers is will not be found in selected surveys. In the same way as not finding the answer to whom the next major artist will be by reading the tabloids. If Steve Jobs used Visit Oslo's tactic, the iPhone would have ended as a what if exercise.
Internet is a great tool for marketers to listen to customers. The question is if you know where to listen. Visit Oslo would see new opportunities if they gave the forum at TripAdvisor a visit. Do you know where to listen for feedback on your brand on the net?

Published in Norwegian at Norvegiasyndromet in February 2008

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