A pair of monster siblings duke it out in ad for Honda Odyssey minivan
Honda is showing off the bells and whistles of its 2018 Odyssey minivan via a campaign that channels action movie tropes.
The crux of the campaign is a 60-second spot that features two monsters who are busy destroying the city they’ve invaded. When one picks up a city bus and attempts to take a bite out of it, the other becomes so jealous and angry that she throws a tree at his face before pummeling him into a nearby building.
While the two duke it out, a man and woman who are trying to take back the city save the day when they stop the fight by using machinery to split the earth between the monsters’ feet, ultimately separating the two. At this point, the scene abruptly cuts to a brother-sister pair who are arguing over a toy bus in the back of a minivan.
Their mom stops the fight with the help of Honda’s “Magic Slide” second-row seats, which are separated to quell the sibling argument – a move that brings to life the metaphor that children can sometimes act like little monsters. The action-themed spot, which pokes fun at the fact that parents often have to do damage control with their kids, will launch in movie theaters on June 16. The in-cinema creative will run before family-oriented movies like Cars 3, Despicable Me 3 and Captain Underpants. A 30-second version is running on TV.
The spot, created by Honda’s longtime agency RPA, also plugs the Odyssey’s CabinTalk feature, which lets the driver talk to passengers through car speakers, as well as CabinWatch, a rear-facing camera that lets the driver keep an eye on what’s going on in the back.
“When kids are happy, parents are happy, so the goal of this new campaign is to communicate that the all-new Honda Odyssey has the connectivity, functionality, flexibility and fun-to-drive handling to keep everyone in the family happy,” said Susie Rossick, assistant vice president of Honda Marketing, in a statement.
Additional campaign elements include a 30-second Hispanic TV spot called ‘Now Boarding’ that will air on channels including Univision, Telemundo, and ESPN Deportes. Honda is also partnering with Disney to launch the ‘Disney Unlock the Magic Sweepstakes,’ which will reward one winner with a vacation to Disneyland Resort and a 2018 Odyssey.
Print elements of the campaign, which Honda says will run in “culinary, home improvement, sports/fitness, and entertainment-interest magazines,” can be seen below:
