New York Times story on Fit Advertising
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New York Times story on Fit Advertising
THE Marshall McLuhan proclamation that "the medium is the message" is being taken to heart by the American Honda Motor Company for the introduction of a subcompact intended for drivers who live in cities.
A campaign scheduled to begin Thursday for the new car, a five-door hatchback called the Honda Fit, makes media choices meant to help consumers sort themselves as, well, fit or unfit for Fit, which will compete against models like the Chevrolet Aveo, Kia Rio, Nissan Versa, Scion xA and Toyota Yaris. The Fit campaign has a budget estimated at $20 million to $30 million, typical for a new car.
To demonstrate that Fit is smaller than most other cars, American Honda and its agency, RPA, for instance, will run a series of commercials that are 5 seconds long rather than the standard 30 seconds.
To make the same point, the brochures for Fit being distributed at dealerships and auto shows are smaller than those for other cars: 6 inches by 6 inches rather than the usual 8Ŋ by 11 inches. Miniature flip books displaying the interior and exterior features of Fit will echo the size distinction.
And to emphasize that Fit is best suited for urbanites seeking smaller gas sippers, the campaign will appear in a variety of nontraditional media favored by such consumers. A teaser campaign has been running in the entertainment and lifestyle sections of the Web sites of newspapers in cities like Baltimore and Los Angeles.
Starting Thursday, video and interactive Fit ads will show up on blogs and Web sites with a metropolitan point of view, among them citysearch.com, evite.com, match.com and ticketmaster.com. They will also be featured on a special Web site (fit.honda.com).
Fit will even sponsor episodes of a humorous online video series aimed at white-collar workers, titled "Cube Fabulous," appearing from May through August on Web sites like ifilm.com and windowsmedia.com. To reflect the subcompact status of Fit, the Webisodes presenting whimsical makeovers of dowdy office cubicles will run 5 to 7 minutes each, rather than the usual 30-minute length of an episode of a TV series.
"We were looking for a campaign that was not typical, that had energy, that helped define a personality for the vehicle," said Tom Peyton, senior manager for advertising at American Honda in Torrance, Calif.
"In this world of TiVo," he added, referring to the digital video recorder that enables viewers to skip or zap commercials, "the question becomes, can you have different media that speak to what the car is."
"The agency proposed trying this, and I was all for it," Mr. Peyton said. "This is all about experimentation, a constant state of experimentation, to entertain and communicate with consumers."
Although the Fit media plans are unusual, they are by no means extraordinary. The Mini Cooper sold by BMW, as well as the Scion line from Toyota Motor Sales USA, have been pioneers in finding unconventional media to express their unconventional personas.
"There's no doubt about it, especially on the Mini side, there's a lot to learn on how to do it right," Mr. Peyton acknowledged. "It's something we're hoping to achieve with this car."
For Fit, RPA, the longtime Honda agency, has sought to develop an identity that is different from Mini, Scion or other subcompacts, even if some of the media ideas, like the smaller-size booklets, are evocative of brands like Mini.
Rather than aim the campaign at younger consumers, as many makers of subcompacts have done, "we're appealing to a mind-set" that ranges beyond age, said David Smith, creative director at RPA, based in Santa Monica, Calif.
The goal is to appeal to "people who are typically living in large cities, into art and music and fashion, who have a sense of 'doing your own thing,' " Mr. Smith said, an audience RPA describes as "metro-funky."
The playful tone and offbeat look of the campaign is intended to pique the curiosity of that target, he added, with elements that pay tribute to influences as diverse as video games, hairstyles, professional wrestling, Japanese science fiction films and the West Coast customized-car culture of Ed Roth, known as Big Daddy, epitomized by his character Rat Fink.
Indeed, oddball characters dominate the Fit campaign, resembling aliens, monsters, robots, flying silver bullets, bats and refugees from 1980's video games.
The off-kilter approach is epitomized by the theme of the campaign, "The Fit is go!" which in the commercials and video clips is intoned by a metallic voice that crosses Hal the malevolent computer from the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" with Bender the hapless robot from "Futurama," the animated situation comedy.
"It's a melding of different genres," Mr. Peyton said, "a feeling of comic books of the 70's, Big Daddy's Rat Fink and flower power, with big energy, color and a 2000's twist to it."
The innovative aspects of the campaign are being extended, he added, as American Honda plans on Thursday to brief its dealers on the Fit ads by using a Webcast for the first time.
The five-second TV commercials are scheduled in many instances to run in batches of three during breaks in national and local programs. Finding networks and stations that would accept them was a laborious process, said Cathleen Campe, director for local broadcast at RPA, and her counterpart, Lisa Herdman, associate director for network programming.
The networks that are to run the trio of five-second spots include ABC Family, Cartoon Network, HGTV, National Geographic Channel, Nick at Nite, Oxygen, Sci Fi, TV Land and USA. The local stations are in markets like Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego and Seattle.
And there you have it, all the Fit that's news to print.
A campaign scheduled to begin Thursday for the new car, a five-door hatchback called the Honda Fit, makes media choices meant to help consumers sort themselves as, well, fit or unfit for Fit, which will compete against models like the Chevrolet Aveo, Kia Rio, Nissan Versa, Scion xA and Toyota Yaris. The Fit campaign has a budget estimated at $20 million to $30 million, typical for a new car.
To demonstrate that Fit is smaller than most other cars, American Honda and its agency, RPA, for instance, will run a series of commercials that are 5 seconds long rather than the standard 30 seconds.
To make the same point, the brochures for Fit being distributed at dealerships and auto shows are smaller than those for other cars: 6 inches by 6 inches rather than the usual 8Ŋ by 11 inches. Miniature flip books displaying the interior and exterior features of Fit will echo the size distinction.
And to emphasize that Fit is best suited for urbanites seeking smaller gas sippers, the campaign will appear in a variety of nontraditional media favored by such consumers. A teaser campaign has been running in the entertainment and lifestyle sections of the Web sites of newspapers in cities like Baltimore and Los Angeles.
Starting Thursday, video and interactive Fit ads will show up on blogs and Web sites with a metropolitan point of view, among them citysearch.com, evite.com, match.com and ticketmaster.com. They will also be featured on a special Web site (fit.honda.com).
Fit will even sponsor episodes of a humorous online video series aimed at white-collar workers, titled "Cube Fabulous," appearing from May through August on Web sites like ifilm.com and windowsmedia.com. To reflect the subcompact status of Fit, the Webisodes presenting whimsical makeovers of dowdy office cubicles will run 5 to 7 minutes each, rather than the usual 30-minute length of an episode of a TV series.
"We were looking for a campaign that was not typical, that had energy, that helped define a personality for the vehicle," said Tom Peyton, senior manager for advertising at American Honda in Torrance, Calif.
"In this world of TiVo," he added, referring to the digital video recorder that enables viewers to skip or zap commercials, "the question becomes, can you have different media that speak to what the car is."
"The agency proposed trying this, and I was all for it," Mr. Peyton said. "This is all about experimentation, a constant state of experimentation, to entertain and communicate with consumers."
Although the Fit media plans are unusual, they are by no means extraordinary. The Mini Cooper sold by BMW, as well as the Scion line from Toyota Motor Sales USA, have been pioneers in finding unconventional media to express their unconventional personas.
"There's no doubt about it, especially on the Mini side, there's a lot to learn on how to do it right," Mr. Peyton acknowledged. "It's something we're hoping to achieve with this car."
For Fit, RPA, the longtime Honda agency, has sought to develop an identity that is different from Mini, Scion or other subcompacts, even if some of the media ideas, like the smaller-size booklets, are evocative of brands like Mini.
Rather than aim the campaign at younger consumers, as many makers of subcompacts have done, "we're appealing to a mind-set" that ranges beyond age, said David Smith, creative director at RPA, based in Santa Monica, Calif.
The goal is to appeal to "people who are typically living in large cities, into art and music and fashion, who have a sense of 'doing your own thing,' " Mr. Smith said, an audience RPA describes as "metro-funky."
The playful tone and offbeat look of the campaign is intended to pique the curiosity of that target, he added, with elements that pay tribute to influences as diverse as video games, hairstyles, professional wrestling, Japanese science fiction films and the West Coast customized-car culture of Ed Roth, known as Big Daddy, epitomized by his character Rat Fink.
Indeed, oddball characters dominate the Fit campaign, resembling aliens, monsters, robots, flying silver bullets, bats and refugees from 1980's video games.
The off-kilter approach is epitomized by the theme of the campaign, "The Fit is go!" which in the commercials and video clips is intoned by a metallic voice that crosses Hal the malevolent computer from the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" with Bender the hapless robot from "Futurama," the animated situation comedy.
"It's a melding of different genres," Mr. Peyton said, "a feeling of comic books of the 70's, Big Daddy's Rat Fink and flower power, with big energy, color and a 2000's twist to it."
The innovative aspects of the campaign are being extended, he added, as American Honda plans on Thursday to brief its dealers on the Fit ads by using a Webcast for the first time.
The five-second TV commercials are scheduled in many instances to run in batches of three during breaks in national and local programs. Finding networks and stations that would accept them was a laborious process, said Cathleen Campe, director for local broadcast at RPA, and her counterpart, Lisa Herdman, associate director for network programming.
The networks that are to run the trio of five-second spots include ABC Family, Cartoon Network, HGTV, National Geographic Channel, Nick at Nite, Oxygen, Sci Fi, TV Land and USA. The local stations are in markets like Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego and Seattle.
And there you have it, all the Fit that's news to print.
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 451
From: South Dakota
Perfect. In the land of the SUV and Super sized fast food and McMansions they are emphasizing that the Fit is really small.
You just have to look to see that it is small, why don't they emphasize how much room it has.
I tire of the constant struggle by advertisers to be hip and energetic. I want to know about the product, then I can decide for myselft if it is hip.
You just have to look to see that it is small, why don't they emphasize how much room it has.
I tire of the constant struggle by advertisers to be hip and energetic. I want to know about the product, then I can decide for myselft if it is hip.
Member
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 421
From: VA (just west of Richmond)
They're also putting the advertising in areas and on channels that "Joe Schmo" isn't going to see it. I think the biggest amount of advertising they're going to get is when those of us who are first on the list are driving down the streets in our new Fits, and someone looks at the car, and says to themselves "I didn't know Honda made one of THOSE?!?"
Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 161
From: Philadelphia
I disagree with all of you - I think some fresh marketing ideas are necessary to reach the target market (which, incidentally, I'm in). Young people don't respond to advertising messages on TV - we're a cynical lot, and we take commercial's with about a mine's worth of salt. In the competitive media market, the answer isn't just another 30-second spot - it's something new and fresh to cut through the clutter. Will this work? I don't know, but it's worth a shot.
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