People don’t trust car dealers. In fact, they hate them. We decided to differentiate Honda Dealers by making them helpful and creating a visual icon in a blue polo shirt. To launch the Helpful campaign, we made TV spots featuring customers taking advantage of car dealers, instead of the other way around. In addition to broadcast, we sent out teams of people in blue shirts to do Helpful deeds all over Southern California. Before the campaign, the SoCal Honda Dealers were outsold by Toyota 2:1 and outspent by 3:1. Today, they’ve surpassed Toyota in sales while still being outspent.
Here are some ideas for Honda spots that didn’t quite make the cut. Starring me and my colleagues. Shot and edited by me.