Exhibit A is Honda's new "Documentary" style campaign called "Dream the Impossible". It is hosted on a Honda branded Youtube page and in episode 1 "Failure: The Secret to Success" [Watch clip before proceeding - 8:19min] chronicles Honda's disastrous entry into supplying motors for indycar racing back in mid 90's. The documentary is very solemn in tone and opens up with a series of nicely shot vignettes  of Honda employees re-living the nightmarish tale of woe in question over a ominous piano track. It's not a new style of film making but well done and you are pulled in quite quickly with the personal stories of failure. This is a great hook because everyone regardless of ego has fears of failure either in the future or the scars of failures past. It is something that emotionally pulls us into the film. It's an interesting approach because from what I can tell Honda is not trying to shed a failure image but rather discuss why there are successful at building motors today. If Chrysler or GM had made this it would be a film about apology and apathy, not success. Even if either one of those two companies wanted to make this film, Honda has now taken that opportunity and turned it on it's head in the process. This film is clearly about success and presented in a way that suits the somber mood of the current climate.

So why take this approach? Honda has some spend money here by the looks of things and campaign branded Youtube site indicates there are more films in the works. The views are only at 20,347 for just over two weeks and that really is nothing to get excited about. Are they mad, is this campaign a failure? No it is just a beginning and I think and the plan is to take the slow and deep cycle approach over more that one quarter. The Japanese are great at the long, slow and very successful marketing approaches [see the 80’s decade if you need a reminder]. They are building a slow deep wave of positive brand experiences that will overtime build up trust in the brand and a take away message that Honda “does things differently”. Honda smells blood with the US auto makers and are planning laying out the ground work for when the recession is over. They know, like Kellogg's did in the great depression, that if you advertise and market yourself correctly in economic hard times that your brand can win out in the end. Kellogg's advertised hard in the great depression when there were really no standout leaders in cereal business. In fact there were over 60 competitors going into the depression and only a handful one coming out. I believe that this viral documentary series is part of a global initiative to put the US auto makers out of their misery once and for all. Hell Toyota for the first time surpassed GM in global sales and with Honda being the second largest Japanese auto maker it's no wonder they are going for it.