• Ad Age, Monday, February 20, 2006 11:01 AM

American Honda Motor is about to take an online campaign for its Honda Element mainstream with TV spots, magazine ads, and a unique out-of-home-effort. The campaign stems from a Web site dedicated to the model at www.elementsandfriends.com, in which the car talks to a crab, a platypus and other animals in a selection of 30-second videos. In March, TV ads directing consumers to the site will appear on ESPN and late-night buys on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block and Comedy Central. Print ads will appear in a handful of titles mostly targeting young males, including ESPN the Magazine. The most interesting element of the effort features ads on outdoor boards in 21 markets containing an AM radio transmitter telling drivers to tune into a local radio frequency. Once tuned in, people can hear the Element talking to various animals. Jenny Howell, online marketing manager at Honda, said consumers are spending an average of 13 minutes at elementsandfriends.com, which has been generating several hundred thousand unique visitors monthly since it went live in October. She said she expects traffic to increase dramatically, especially after the TV spots break.

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