And that means – COMMERCIALS!
This week, I’m looking at commercials that I love, commercials that have gave me all the feels the first time I saw them. These hand-picked commercials are ones I’ve always said I’d get around to on here. They strike the right cord, and in the case of today’s commercial, makes me giggle and smile.
You know the commercial is effective when it does that. If it makes one buy the type of car advertised, then bonus!
So there is this whole thing that when you have your dog long enough, they begin to look like you…or you look like them.
No, I look nothing like my girls.
Today’s commercial is from 2003, and is from the Japanese manufacturer of vehicles, motorcycles, and power equipment, Honda. This commercial takes the concept of “people who look like their pets” a step further, and adds a sweet little tune alongside the images in the commercial.
Happy Honda customers? Definitely! But it is that “step further” that really gets me.
See for yourself!
I love that.
Honda’s Happy Car Owners prefer to buy the car that “speaks to them,” but also looks like them. The music in the commercial is sweet, a little tune of love and happiness, as each Honda model’s resemblance is shown. Ears open like car doors, hair coverings, haircuts, lack of hair altogether, stocky build, facial features, all looks are unique, and Honda has a car to suit those very features.
And just when you’re laughing because it is all so cute and funny, you get a surprise!
I’ve got braces…and so does my Honda!
That was the part I laughed at the most. Forget ears open like car doors, Braces Man and his Metal-Mouthed Honda win!
It is proven that the right visual moment will make you laugh, cry, give you goosebumps, or move you. The same holds true with commercials. These short snippets of time look to influence your decisions – purchasing of goods, use of services – and if the hook is perfect (and perfectly-timed), you’ve got a customer.
I mean, local avails, built on $1 budgets and “local color” have impact of a different sort, but it is commercials like this one that can have a positive influence.
Or maybe it offends someone. There’s alot of whiny people out there.
I first saw this at an old boyfriend’s house in the fall of 2003, after an rerun of Saturday Night Live. I remember laughing so hard. As a college student studying advertising that semester, seeing a commercial like this reminded me that the most effective advertising says very little, and shows alot. The boyfriend just didn’t get it, and said the commercial aggravated him. I made a big deal about how great the commercial was – it reached for my geekiness and pulled me in. Laughing with goosebumps – what a great combination!
Boyfriend became Ex less than a month later. These days, I have a husband that doesn’t understand my love for commercials, but I can overlook that. However, if he needed a reason why I enjoy them so much, I can, with all sincerity, point to this commercial as an example of effective advertising.
That’s right!
That just works!!!!
Tomorrow, another commercial that hits a personal cord, with a different type of response. I watched it again right after I watched today’s commercial, and, well, it hits me as hard in 2020 as it did when it originally aired.
Have a great Throwback Thursday!