Honda CR-V leads us on a wild horse chase in latest campaign via Leo Burnett, Melbourne
CB Exclusive – As one of Australia’s most trusted SUVs, the Honda CR-V is no stranger to how unpredictable family life can be. A new campaign has been created by Leo Burnett Melbourne for Honda Australia to show that no matter where the road leads, the CR-V Series II is the SUV that’s made to ‘go with it’.
Honda Australia director, Stephen Collins said the CR-V nameplate has a long, proud history in Australia and set the benchmark for SUVs when it was first launched back in 1997.
Says Collins: “The CR-V is a core model for Honda both globally and locally. With such significant upgrades made recently on the Series II range, we wanted to support this important model with a new campaign that taps into the fun and energy of the CR-V.”
The campaign is led by a 60 second TVC directed by Goodoil’s Hamish Rothwell. It tells the story of a young girl determined to replace her broken pink toy horse. Her father plays along with her solution to the problem, only to discover it is more spectacular than he could have imagined. Featuring the song ‘Howlin’ For You’ by The Black Keys, the TVC includes a special horse ranch and muster of a herd of horses with a difference.
Airing from Sunday 19 July, the TVC is being supported with an integrated campaign that includes cinema, outdoor, online, social and dealer communications.
Says Jason Williams, executive creative director, Leo Burnett Melbourne: “The idea came from the insight that having children is its own adventure and sometimes you have to go on a bit of a wild goose chase to appease the imagination of a young child.”
Agency: Leo Burnett Melbourne
ECD: Jason Williams
Creatives: Joe Hill / Garret Fitzgerald
Senior Agency Producer: Cinnamon Darvall
Group Account Director: Chris Ivanov
Senior Account Director: Jaime Morgan
Director of Integrated Strategy: Ilona Janashvili
Production: Goodoil Films
Director: Hamish Rothwell
Executive Producer: Sam Long
DOP: Crighton Bone
Production Designer: Guy Treadgold
Casting: Catch Casting NZ / Mullinar’s Sydney
Editor: Peter Sciberras Method Studios
VFX & Supervisor: Colin Renshaw (ALT VFX)
Sound Engineer: Sam Hopgood – SoundLounge
Sound Producer: Lizzie Haussegger – SoundLounge
Client: Honda Australia
Brand Comms Manager: Melissa Altarelli
Brand Comms Specialist: Sarah Tolliday
Brand Comms Coordinator: Megan McDermott
29 Comments
love it. unreal.
I find it very hard to go with.
Plus the music editing was disjointed and off.
This is great, risky but it paid off.
Horsome!!
Almost.
Love it!
…nor can I follow it. But I love it.
Looks like someone needs a raise!
2nd horsepowered car spot I’ve seen in a week, I think the other one was for Mazda (needless to say it was unmemorable) this isn’t too bad. No where near the standard of their dream run though.
What’s with the production value of the horses? Those colors looks very average indeed. Was this an in house job? Good in theory but think they missed the mark in execution.
i like it
Were the horses graded by the little girl in the ad?
Better than 80% of the car ads on Australian TV but worse than 90% of the Honda work produced overseas.
yeah, kinda cool for the painted horses alone, but im a little lost as to the point its making. is she trying to replace her lost horses head with a real one?
anyway, its different so congrats for making something that stands out!
Entertaining and better than 90% of advertising in Australia.
Entertaining enough but an idea that has pretty much nothing to do with the product rarely wins awards. I assume awards were the point with this.
If the above comments are reflective of the industry, we are truly buggered.
Great work by all. Wish it was on my reel.
LB Melbourne are doing the best automotive work in Australia for sure. Good one guys.
A great team doing great things – lets cut them down at the knees and watch them bleed – Australia f**k yeah.
complicated but sweet. whats the ad for again?
Growing up if I ever asked for a badly graded horse I would have been laughed at.
number one by david droga, no big deal.
Were the horses painted for the add if so it has turned me off the brand I have driven for the past 25 years!
Surely you could do better!
Only good part was the last 3-4 seconds with the male ripping the head off the dino toy and seeing a T-Rex running along behind the cars. But I guess it’s cheaper and easier to do a bad colour edit of some horses than a full CGI dinosaur, hey…
I have no idea what just happened, and I’m certainly not inspired to buy a car.
Horses to represent the car engine’s horse power. I like it! Does the multicoloured , fantastical horse theme mean that honda thinks that their car’s horse power is out of this world? Hmm, we shall see!
Bizarre…..at best. Downright stupid, and that’s not the worst. If this is the best an agency can do, it’s time Honda changed agencies.
Mindless, meaningless garbage advertising, AND a f****** dinosaur???
I’ve given this ad some more thought…..just plain stupid.
Can anybody explain the dinosaur ambling through in the closing moments? Perhaps that represents the agency, advertising from the 70/80’s when the absurd was fashionable??