• by Karl Greenberg , May 14, 2008

Campaigns of yore for Element, Pilot, and CR-V attest to the fact that Honda has often approached SUVs and crossovers as an opportunity to stretch comedy muscles. 

The Torrance, Calif.-based company's latest multi-platform ad push for the 2009 Pilot is no different. Launching next Monday, it uses outlandish situations to tout the vehicle's interior capacity, technical gadgetry and fuel efficiency.

The campaign, which includes promotional tie-ins to NBC's "Last Comic Standing" and consumer-content elements, features several 30-second TV spots that show drivers in Pilots assisting people in ridiculous circumstances. One ad, highlighting the vehicle's interior capacity and rear-view camera has a Pilot rolling up to a grounded passenger balloon in the middle of the road. It contains a group of naked, elderly men. "We're nudists," says one, as they hitch a ride. The driver uses the vehicle's rear camera to back up, avoiding having to actually look at the fellows.

Another, touting the vehicle's fuel efficiency, has the Pilot pulling up next to a cement mixer and its operator. On the ground is another man, encased save for head and arm, in a floe of solid cement. The vehicle rolls off, towing the mixer and the two guys, one of whom is shoved in the vehicle's rear, cement and all.

Brett Bender, SVP and account director at Honda's AOR, Santa Monica-based RPA, says the humor approach makes sense - depending on the vehicle - because "it's a good way to engage the audience and break through the clutter; it creates an emotional bond at the same time we're delivering a message about the vehicle."

Bender says the campaign will run through the summer and, possibly, beyond.

The effort includes a tie-in with NBC's "Last Comic Standing," called "Last Comic Driving." It centers on vignettes in which a new comedian each week does a comedy routine in the Pilot. The host of the show will sit in the driver's seat, the comic in the passenger's seat, and six other passengers will occupy the back two rows. Viewers will be directed online to rate each routine.

At the end of the series, the highest-rated comedian wins 90 seconds of air time in the last episode of "Last Comic Standing." In addition, the winner of the NBC series wins a new Pilot and viewers can enter to win a new Pilot online.

Bender says the tie-in with "Last Comic Standing" benefits from good timing. "The show's launch coincides with the launch of the vehicle."

The TV spots will run during prime time on ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX in high-profile programming that includes "Grey's Anatomy," "House," "CSI" and "Law & Order." Spots will also appear during late-night programming on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and the "Late Show with David Letterman," national cable and NBA, MLB and NFL broadcasts throughout the summer.

There will also be radio spots on XM Radio and promotional items on ESPN radio. Print will run in a variety of popular broach-reach and targeted publications, including Bicycling, Men's Health, Men's Journal, National Geographic, Outside, People, Runner's World, Sports Illustrated and U.S. News & World Report.

At pilot.honda.com, visitors can create "Ready-sodes", humorous videos which they can send around and embed on their own social-media sites. Honda will also have a Pilot page on YouTube where users can upload the videos. Honda will also run roadblock-type ads on AOL and MSN and placements on sites like Yahoo, ESPN, and NBC. Online advertisements will be present on a variety of different sites, including news, parenting and entertainment.

Finally, the effort includes something called "The Honda Ultimate Garage," with a sweepstakes element where consumers receive a game piece and sit in a Pilot to decode the game piece.

Tom Peyton, Honda's senior advertising manager, says the effort is meant to promote the vehicle's functional flexibility to 30-45 year olds with kids. "The creative inventively relies on humor and positions the Pilot as a solution to exaggerated everyday problems. Because of the target's love of wit, humor has been embraced throughout the campaign and enables the work to stand out within the SUV segment."