Honda | 負けるもんか | 2015
You can only outdo who you were yesterday / Honda corporate ad "I Won't Lose" (Product)
"Effort doesn't pay off. Dreams don't come true. So what?" I still remember how many people this corporate ad moved when it came out. In just 60 seconds, it lines up generations of Honda cars and motorcycles at Twin Ring Motegi, and through them, the spirit of Soichiro Honda comes through as one powerful message.
The problem
In 2012, the year after the Great East Japan Earthquake, Japan was full of people saying "let's keep going, let's do our best." Into that atmosphere, Honda declared: "the idea that effort always pays off is an illusion." Instead of comforting words, they put forward, as a piece of corporate advertising, the sheer resolve it takes to keep trying again and again in a world where 99% of the time you fail, giving up sleep to do it. This was one film in a series of corporate ads built around words that express "what makes Honda, Honda," and it was an attempt to question the brand's own philosophy at its core.
The insight
Facing the post-earthquake chorus of "let's do our best," Honda didn't choose easy encouragement. It acknowledged the hard truth that "effort usually doesn't pay off," and then asked: "So what? That's exactly where you start." The power of this message comes from the fact that it could only be said by a company like Honda, which has kept innovating through repeated failure ever since its founding. That unbreakable spirit was distilled into the five words of the title, "I won't lose." I think this phrase was the result of carefully thinking through how people see the world, and how people look at Honda.
The idea
This is a 60-second commercial filmed at Twin Ring Motegi. One after another, vehicles that mark milestones in Honda's history appear: the Type A, the RC143, the S500, the Super Cub, the N360, the CB750, the NSX concept. Not a single person appears. Only the products are shown, lined up, with a powerful narration laid over them: "In technology development, 99% is failure. If you try something new, you will mess up. It's infuriating. So you give up sleep, give up meals, and do it again and again. Now, surpass who you were yesterday. Surpass the Honda you were yesterday." Because the structure is so simple, the strength of the words and the products stands out all the more.
What happened
The ad won the top prize in the TV commercial category, the "Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Award / ACC Grand Prix," at the 2012 ACC CM FESTIVAL, and also received the 2012 ADC Grand Prix that July. It was watched widely on YouTube, especially by younger viewers, and became a major topic on social media as well. Out of more than 8,000 entries that year, it received the most prestigious award, and it's remembered as a film that showed what corporate messaging could look like in post-earthquake Japan.
Afterthought
The observation that "they must have really carefully thought through how people see the world, and how people look at Honda" rings completely true to me. It takes strength not to let "we'll do our best" end with a shrug of "sure, good luck." That strength comes from refusing empty comfort, facing head-on a reality full of failure, and still declaring "I'll do it anyway." Not a single person appears on screen, but surely many viewers saw themselves in it. Every time I watch this commercial, I feel like it's telling me to surpass who I was yesterday, and it makes me stand up a little straighter. It really is nothing short of a masterpiece.
