Honda Automobiles: Honda Initiates ‘Start Something Special’ Conversations Online and with New Brand TV; Surprise Wedding Extravaganza Introduces Effort

  • Honda invites fans and owners to show Honda how they can #StartSomething on social media
  • Honda-loyal couple receives array of surprises at their wedding to launch Start Something social effort
  • Honda encourages conversations via TV, social and digital

In August, Honda introduced the “Start Something Special” tag line throughout the brand’s advertising to communicate the special relationship people have with their Hondas. To socialize the new tag line across platforms, Honda is celebrating the special stories fans have with their Hondas and facilitating conversation across social media using the #StartSomething hashtag.

“We invite everyone to tell us how they can #StartSomething special every day. We’ll be listening, watching and celebrating with our fans and owners across social media,” said Michael Accavitti, Senior Vice President of Automobile Operations at American Honda Motor Co., Inc. “These stories will become the next chapter of our vibrant digital scrapbook that shows what Honda means to our customers’ and fans’ lives and evolves our ‘Honda Loves You Back’ efforts—feel-good surprises we’ve orchestrated over the past few years to show gratitude to those who have expressed love for the brand.”

To launch “Start Something Special” in social media, Honda showed some special appreciation to a soon-to-be-married couple because of their long family history of Honda loyalty—together they have owned 20 Hondas. The couple, Mairead and Kevin, asked their local Honda dealer to loan three black CR-Vs for bridal-party participation. Little did they realize that Honda had something much bigger planned.

Having been told that their story might be used in Honda marketing, the video opens with Mairead talking about how she met Kevin and her family’s loyalty to Honda. The video then segues to Honda’s special plans for the couple following their ceremony (a couple key family insiders helped the brand make things extra meaningful for the couple). The couple steps outside the church and sees eight black CR-Vs parked. Mairead and Kevin stand in awe as each CR-V reveals personalized, unexpected delights such as the band they heard on their first date playing a song, Irish step dancers and gifts from their registry delivered by relatives from Ireland.

The #StartSomething conversation will carry on across Honda’s social platforms, including Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter and Vine, where fans will be encouraged to share their stories with Honda. All stories will be collected at hondastories.com.

National Brand TV
To spread “Start Something Special” to a broad audience, Honda is launching two national brand TV spots, beginning with “Thank You” that breaks 10/29. A collection of photographs and video of families and fans show their appreciation of the Honda brand. A voice-over says, “Thank you all for making your Honda more than a car. Thanks for making them something special.” The spots will air on the NHL network and during NFL games.

About Honda
Honda offers a complete lineup of cars and trucks through a network of more than 1,000 dealerships in the United States. In 2013, Honda marks 40 years of the Civic model, with more than 30 years of producing automobiles in the region, which began with the Accord in Marysville, Ohio, in November 1982. Having produced more than 25 million vehicles in North America through 2012 using domestic and globally sourced parts, Honda currently operates 14 major manufacturing facilities in North America, producing a wide range of Honda automobiles, all-terrain vehicles, power equipment products, engines and transmissions.

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