automotive

Honda Tosses A Cephalopod For Pilot

Passionate-FansTalk about inside ball. Or puck. A lot of brands hitching their wagons to the National Hockey League this year are bowing hockey-specific advertising to air during games. Honda is out of the gate with an ad for the Pilot crossover that will make absolutely no sense to the viewer who isn't kind of steeped in hockey culture. 

That's probably a good thing -- since the ad is mostly on hockey media, and those who see the spot by accident will probably be so mystified they will end up talking to people about it just it just to find out what a live octopus has to do with hockey.

The new 30-second spot features Anaheim Ducks’ Corey Perry and Detroit Red Wings’ Nicklas Lidström, as well as some arcane hockey-fan rituals. The ad, via Los Angeles-based agency of record RPA, aired for the first time during the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic, which is usually on New Year’s Day but this year was on Jan. 2 to avoid a collision with the NFL's Jan. 1 juggernaut. That didn't help, as the game reportedly got its lowest TV rating in its five-year run. There was nothing boring about the game either, as the Rangers came from behind to snatch a 3-2 victory from Philly's own.

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The spot features Perry, the current league MVP, and 12-time All-Star Lidström walking from an arena after a late-night NHL game. As the pair prepares to depart in a Honda Pilot, a hat falls on the windshield -- then another, then dozens more until the ground around the car is littered with lids. The reference: fans toss their hats on the ice when an NHL player pulls off a "hat trick," scoring three goals in a single game. 

The two stare at each other and Lidström asks Perry if he got a hat trick last night. Then an octopus (not computer-generated) flops upon the windshield. This refers to a Detroit Red Wings fan habit of tossing the eight-armed cephalopods on the ice, a ritual dating back to the 1952 Stanley Cup, when local fishmongers the Cusimano brothers evidently tossed one on the ice to symbolize the eight playoff wins you had to have to claim the Cup. The Red Wings won all eight, and 16 years ago they even brought out an octo-mascot, Al.

“They’ve got passionate fans. We’ve got passionate fans,” says the TV ad as the two players react to the octopus sliding down the windshield.

 “You don’t typically find casual hockey fans -- they are diehards by nature. Honda fans are also an enthusiastic bunch, so the two are a natural fit. This campaign ties the passion and tradition of the NHL directly to Honda,” said Pat Mendelson, group creative director at RPA, in a statement.

The ad will run on NBC and Versus and during sports programming. Print will appear in USA Today and online units will run online on NHL.com and NHL team sites, per the agency. No octopuses were harmed during filming.  

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