automotive

Honda Inks Exclusive Deal With 'High School Musical 3'

Honda/H.S. Musical 3 spotHonda has signed on as exclusive automotive sponsor of Walt Disney Pictures' "High School Musical 3: Senior Year."

Honda's co-branded campaign for the film, which opens Oct. 24-- includes TV spots, radio, print, and online elements. The film also features a raft of Honda vehicles, including a Honda Odyssey minivan driven by Gabriella's mother, Mrs. Montez; a pink S2000 coupe driven by Sharpay, a Pilot compact crossover and a Civic Hybrid.

The effort will include a cross-branded 30-second TV spot for the Odyssey that will run on cable networks and network shows in October, and a branded spot on the Disney Channel. One spot shows the minivan "driving" through the animated world of a Wildcats senior yearbook. A co-branded site, www.Disney.com/RidewiththeWildcats, which goes live on Sept. 29, lets visitors watch videos and play a thematically related driving game.

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The site also hosts a sweepstakes, "Ride with the Wildcats," offering a new 2009 Honda Odyssey and autographed props from the feature film set as the grand prize. The promotion gets support from a 45-second TV spot on Disney Channel, a 30-second spot on Radio Disney, a full-page co-branded ad in the November issue of Family Fun magazine and a one-third-page follow-up ad announcing sweepstakes winners running in the April issue.

Tom Peyton, senior advertising manager at American Honda Motor, says Honda is reprising a role it had in "High School Musical Two." "We started with Disney a few years ago when we became a partner of Disney Land," he tells Marketing Daily. "That gave us inroads to talk on other projects."

He said that while other Honda vehicles are spotlighted in "HS3," "it is primarily about Odyssey. We're trying to reach families; these are the right households for us to talk to."

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