• by Karl Greenberg , October 5, 2007

"Tough meets classy" is the theme of a TV spot for Honda's 2008 Ridgeline pickup. The ad begins with a ladies' tea party in an elegant garden bistro. Dishes clink, and tea is poured into cups as the camera pans across elderly matrons deep in conversation. Then, in strolls a sweating, gritty, leather-clad Chuck Norris, looking ready to take names.

Thus, the dichotomy message Honda is floating for the 2008 version of its hot-selling pickup crossover: a pickup can be tough but refined at the same time.

Honda's campaign--which argues that the Ridgeline combines muscle and ruggedness with intelligence, class, spaciousness and handling--includes four 15-second TV spots, each positing a marriage of opposites to talk up specific vehicle attributes.

"Rugged meets spacious" has a lumberjack floating in space; "Tradition meets innovation," touting the truck's in-bed trunk, has a father at a Norman Rockwell-esque Thanksgiving dinner whipping out a laser knife to cut the turkey; and "Rough meets smooth" takes place on a fishing boat desperately battling savage seas, huge waves swamping the sailors on deck. Also on deck is impeccably dressed LeRoi Moore, saxophonist for the Dave Matthews Band, improvising on his horn. The ad touts the vehicle's four-wheel independent suspension.

The spots, which broke last weekend, are running in national sports broadcast, cable and cable sports programming.

A national outdoor buy includes NHL arenas, and Santa Monica, Calif.-based RPA says the online plan will reach the male Ridgeline target year-round on sports Web sites with sponsorships and placements surrounding in-season sports.

The ads highlight specific features like the in-bed trunk on the pickup-bed floor.

In a testament to the increasingly media-agnostic nature of video advertising assets, Honda is also breaking a pair of new ads on TV that were produced for the Internet.

The ads, for Honda's Fit subcompact, are animated 15-second spots created by L.A.-based visual effects and design company A52. The agency, which is known for special effects on TV and films, has done work for Honda on Fit and Ridgeline under the aegis of RPA.

According to A52 computer graphics chief Andy Hall, who directed the ads, RPA gave the firm free rein on the new ads, which are animated extensions of Honda's "Fit Is Go" effort.

The ads break this week on cable and will go online on Monday on offbeat regional magazine sites. The agency produced the spots in HD format--even though the ads were originally intended to be online only. Hall says the agency's assignment was to make two 15-second spots for the Internet, based on RPA storyboards.

One of the two ads has Fit racing through an urban landscape, chased by three gigantic eyeballs. The car finally careens into a tunnel that is a little too small for the eyes, one of which gets stuck at the entrance. "Eye Catching," says the headline.

The agency--and Hall--directed Honda's ad for the Ridgeline that ran during Super Bowl XL, as well as last year's effort for the Fit.

Hall says the influence for the eyeball ad--as well as for previous Fit ads that use a similar animation technique--has included Japanese Manga-style cartoons and their futuristic environments. "We are using that as a jumping-off point and embellishing that a little more."

He says postcards from the 50s influenced the other spot, which shows the Fit passing a row of antediluvian gas stations on a Route 66-like highway. "It really brings iconic American imagery and style to a Japanese brand."