Last year, mcgarrybowen London proved that showing a car in an urban landscape need not be the world’s beige-est ad.
Honda’s Illusions ad also made its point – that Honda’s ingenuity makes the impossible possible.
Along the way, it won a Gold Lion in Film Craft for the agency, production company Gorgeous, director Chris Palmer and post production company The Mill.
So, the team has got together this year to create another visual illusion – this time of an endless road. The message is that Honda’s quest to create the most advanced CR-V yet is never-ending, which is underlined by the tagline, “Better Efficiency, Economy, Performance. The Road to Better Never Ends”.
There’s also more than a hint that Hondas are unfailingly reliable.
To support the advert, mcgarrybowen has created the world’s first ‘never-ending’ YouTube film.
It’s located on the HondaVideo YouTube channel the film and runs continuously…but with a clever twist. It’s personalized. The film uses real-time data to reflect visually the time of day and weather of the viewer’s location, anywhere in the world.
For this part of the campaign, mcgarrybowen, Gorgeous and Palmer called in the digital big guns: Glassworks’ newly appointed creative director, Jordi Bares, and digital production company, MediaMonks.
The illusion was captured in camera, filmed with a one tenth scale model created by set designers, The Magic Camera Company, at Shepperton Studios. Here’s how it was done, in detail:
Kill Bill’s Twisted Nerve was selected as the final track for the film – a brainworm soundtrack was deemed to be the perfect match for the film’s hypnotic visuals.
Grand Central Recording Studios’ Munzie Thind created the sound design for the spot:
“The focus for this spot was expressing an idea of never giving up, being the best. The director Chris Palmer, at Gorgeous, came up with the concept of creating an endless loop of a car driving, alternating between day and night.
“After the film was shot, my challenge was to build a soundscape that would fit perfectly with what you see on screen, and to create a continuous sound effect, that is always there, throughout the spot.
“We tried out various music ideas, and eventually opted for the brilliant Kill Bill track Twisted Nerve, by motion picture composer Bernard Herrmann, as it felt just right, given the environment. It’s jolly and quirky and it enhances the hypnotising feeling predominant in the spot.”
Angus Macadam, executive creative director at mcgarrybowen stated, “We’ve always admired Honda’s endless desire to make things better. This work brings that to life with the world’s first infinitely looping road.”
The Endless Road campaign includes print, outdoor and digital display – all shot by Nick Meek in his first shoot for Honda.
Creative Credits:
Agency: mcgarrybowen
Executive creative directors: Angus Macadam & Paul Jordan
Creative team: Charlotte Watmough & Holly Fallows
Agency producer: Sian Parker
Film production: Gorgeous
Director: Chris Palmer
Executive producer: Rupert Smythe
Post production: Glassworks & FaTiBoo
Digital production: MediaMonks
Executive producer: Wouter Smit
Producer: Rodrigo Alberini
Creative directors: Jon Biggs & Alex Danklof
Audio Production: Munzie Thind @ Grand Central Recording Studios
Music: Twisted Nerve main theme
Composer/arranger: Bernard Herrmann
