Honda signs up Wieden & Kennedy to develop £100m green campaign

Mark Sweney
guardian.co.uk, Monday December 8 2008 07.11 GMT

Honda has appointed the creative agency Wieden & Kennedy to develop an environmental advertising plan using its £100m-plus budget across Europe and Africa
The Japanese car manufacturer, which pulled out of formula one on Friday, has set itself a target of becoming the automotive industry's most environmentally friendly company by 2015.
Honda has appointed W&K Amsterdam, following a five-way pitch, to work across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Russia.
The agency's first task in a wider, long-term strategy is to launch a new hybrid car, the Honda Insight, across Europe with a major TV, press and digital ad campaign in the new year.
W&K London, which started working with Honda in 2002, has created a string of award-winning TV commercials including "Cog", "Choir" and "Impossible Dream", as well as print ads such as "Banana" and "Perfume".
The agency was also responsible for the TV ad "Grrr", featuring an animated eco-friendly diesel engine and the jingle "Hate something, change something", and "Sense", which showed lights dimming and brightening as a car drives past to dramatise a hybrid model.
"Where we want to be by 2015 is the environmental leader. I mean that in a credible sense, not a greenwash sense," said Chris Brown, the head of marketing for Honda Motor Europe.
The car industry is facing increasing pressure to take more responsibility for its impact on the environment, with the European Parliament considering proposals including making manufacturers companies dedicate 20% of their advertising to tobacco-style warnings about CO2 emissions.
In the UK, the Advertising Standards Authority has been on a crusade to stamp out misleading eco-claims in the increasing number of environmentally themed ads being run by car manufacturers.
Brown said that he would accept some form of eco-rating system being introduced for car advertising. Such a system already exists for washing machines and white goods to rate efficiency.
"We would have no problem with that [a system], anything that makes life easier for the consumer has to be good. We may take the lead and take some of these ideas on board. People still want four wheels, it is up to us to work out a solution," he added.
Brown said that Honda had run a multi-region pitch for the ad account because it was the best way to establish the company's eco-credentials in the long term across different markets and a wide product range.
"We want to change the conversation [about eco-ads] completely. At the moment everything is heavy-handed, preachy and overwhelming. We want it to be positive, optimistic, joyful, powerful," he added.
Lee Newman, managing director of W&K Amsterdam, said: "In a lot of ways this [new eco-marketing project] will be a continuation of what Honda has always been about.
"In terms of capturing a spirit of the campaign we are looking at things like the tone and character of 'Grrr' and extending that to other products [beyond the launch of Honda Insight]."
According to Nielsen Media Research Honda spends well in excess of £100m annually on advertising across Europe and Africa.