• by Karl Greenberg , April 6, 2009

Like every automaker, Honda is trying to drive traffic at a time when people are loath to make one of life's more expensive purchases. But the company is hoping to avoid the quicksand of endless discounts to achieve it.

The Torrance, Calif.-based automaker is trying to get potential buyers to take the long view, focusing not on the sticker in the car window, but on how much that vehicle will actually cost to own over time.

To that end, Honda has inked a partnership with Web shopping and research site Edmunds.com to bring consumers to Edmunds.com to find out Honda's ranking on Edmunds' "True Cost to Own" rankings, which compares vehicle cost not just by price, but also by likely fuel costs, parts replacements, durability and other kinds of service.

This week, Honda launches a campaign via AOR Santa Monica, Calif.-based RPA comprising nine TV spots touting Honda's Accord, Civic, CR-V, Fit, Odyssey and Pilot vehicles with online and radio advertising driving traffic to a branded module on the Edmunds.com home page. The home-page button links to a 28-page microsite at Edmunds called "True Cost to Own a Honda."

Spots broke on Monday on prime-time broadcast, cable and spot TV programs like "Dancing with the Stars," "Ugly Betty," "Brothers and Sisters," "CSI," "Heroes" and "The Office." Honda will run online ads on other auto shopping sites that include data from the "True Cost to Own a Honda" pages. An ad for Honda's CR-V ad reads, "5-star crash-test rating + Excellent fuel economy [27 mpg] = Low cost of ownership." All ads end with "Once you sum it up, it all comes down to Honda."

Gregory J. Smith, SVP and account director at RPA, says the strategy began last year with a campaign directing consumers to a "Shop Honda" site at Yahoo. "We have always been very much about the product and less about the deal; we have relied less on incentive advertising, and consumers have also told us that they are skeptical of big cash-back offers," he says. "What we have done over past year or so is advertising offers only when they are unique."

He concedes that this year is very different, with the market dominated by consumers buying new vehicles when they need -- not merely want -- them, and that they are looking for products that -- initial price notwithstanding -- won't turn around and bite them in the nether regions down the line. "This is a 'meat and potatoes' campaign versus bells and whistles: We are saying that, say, high mpg means more of a chance for budgeting over the year."

Smith says Honda is offering incremental support to dealer associations to tie their ad efforts to the national campaign. Honda is also doing point-of-purchase consumer information that covers cost of ownership at dealerships. And training. "There is required salesperson training this year," says Smith.