• by Karl Greenberg , October 3, 2015

Honda is touting its restyled 2016 Honda Accord with a new 60-spot called “Dreams.” The 60-second ad shows a young boy immersed in his excitement about all things automotive. 

The fantastical ad, via agency of record RPA, shows the boy mixing fantasy with reality, as his toy cars come to life as he sleeps in his car-shaped bed, whose fake headlamps flash to life in the night. He sees the guy across the street washing his car, but in the boy’s eyes the car is a Formula racer. Then, as he gets older, he is racing go-carts, and in an action movie chase scene, the chase car becomes his go-cart with him at the wheel.  

Suddenly it's today and he's Walter Mitty, stuck in traffic. So much for interest in cars, until he sees the new Accord across the street, and he fantasizes that it's a race car, with a crew surrounding it as if it were a pit stop, and his eyes light up again.

The ad breaks on Oct. 4 during college football on ESPN, and on social media, on Honda's Accord page on Facebook and Honda's Twitter page.

Last month was a big one for the Torrance, Calif. automaker. In September, the company launched the 10th-generation 2016 Civic on YouTube, which was streamed from live from YouTube's space in Los Angeles. The unveil included performances by alt-rockers Night Riots. Honda says the launch was the first time a car has been introduced to the world at YouTube Space LA. Honda also launched a stylized brand spot, “Paper” which has garnered some 4.3 million views.