I decided to write my post about a new marketing campaign from Honda. I found this article very interesting because AI created media is still somewhat new. Plus it is good to see a large corporation using something that is mostly used to create memes on the internet to create content for a marketing campaign because in my opinion it means that their marketing team is willing to try a tool that is different from traditional methods of content creation.
The campaign is making use of AI and music from an indie artist. The campaign features 30 second video showcasing the line up and the music played in the video is from the indie artist. Later this month there will be three 15 second videos released on social media which are created from AI. This media will be played on both the cable and internet, as well as in sports coverage and in the TV show "Halo" which has been sponsored continually by Honda.
According to Honda, their value proposition or vision as they put it is "to provide products and services that expand people's dreams and potential". I would say this is true because Honda is generally associated with more inexpensive cars that people that just need access to something with 4 wheels can afford. They can also serve people that want something faster because the parts for these vehicles also are generally inexpensive. This allow for the people that want to modify a sportier model to make it look cool and go faster for less then it would cost if you were driving a car from a different auto manufacturer.
This campaign was created for the launch of several new Honda vehicles, such as the 2024 Ridge line Trail Sport, Baja Ridge line race truck, several dirt bikes and a few other cars. The ad use an indie artists new song, through which Honda could potentially tap into the music industry.
The marketing approach taken by this campaign is very creative. Most auto manufacturers use pretty generic TV advertisements to reach consumers. Here Honda uses something new, namely AI to create an ad, which few if any companies as far as I know have done. Having an indie artist for the music is also a great idea because most of the time you expect to hear very generic "corporation" sounding music when listening to an ad.
In my opinion the main challenge that Honda is probably facing is trying to make its ads and marketing efforts stand out among its competitors. Car Advertisements are notoriously boring and forgettable and because of this I think any creative approach whether it works or not is good because it means your ad will be remembered at least, versus just becoming another lifeless car ad banished to cable ads or Youtube that no one watches.
I think that the marketing approach taken by this campaign is very creative. When something stands out and is memorable people are more likely to remember it than the typical advertisement that you see and don't care about. However I think that the specifics about using AI and indie music is not something that would interest a lot of people. So while the content while stand out because of the music and the fact that AI made videos have a very unique look to them, I think the details will be ignored on most viewers. Another thing is that AI is somewhat controversial in its use due to people having differing opinions on what is considered art and whether a machine can make it, but again I think viewers watching the advertisement aren't going to care.
If I was in charge of the marketing campaign I think I might try to create some additional content that gives more specifics on the vehicles being sold. Such as describing the specifications. Another thing that I might do differently is make sure that the places where I spend a lot of money on marketing efforts are places where people that are actually going to be able to buy a car will see it.
From doing this assignment I learned several things. One of them is that you can almost always spot a value proposition in content/products. I also learned that marketers are willing to try unproven technology in pursuits of creating good content and advertisements. I also learned that companies don't necessarily need the top or most famous people to partner with in their marketing deals.
