HONDA | IMPOSSIBLE DREAM | 2006
Racing Through 50 Years of Dreams in Two Minutes / HONDA "IMPOSSIBLE DREAM"
This two-minute ad aired in the UK on December 2, 2005 (12/2). Set to Andy Williams's "The Impossible Dream," a man in a racing suit moves from one historic Honda vehicle to the next. The sequence gets wonderfully wild—he jumps off a waterfall in a boat and comes floating back out of the mist in a hot air balloon. It all ends with Garrison Keillor's voice saying "I couldn't have put it better myself," wrapping up a perfect two minutes.
The problem
In 2002, Honda was the third-largest automaker in Japan, but its sales in the UK and continental Europe were weak, having declined since 1998. To tackle this problem, Honda brought in Wieden+Kennedy London to create an ad campaign. "The Power of Dreams" was based on the company slogan founder Soichiro Honda had set out in the 1940s, "Yume No Chikara"—a phrase meaning to "see" your own dreams. The 2003 ad "Cog" is considered the high point of the campaign, and "IMPOSSIBLE DREAM" arrived as a continuation of that legacy.
The insight
This ad was central to the "Power of Dreams" campaign, and the website provided detailed information about the vintage Honda vehicles chosen to symbolize Soichiro Honda's dream. Soichiro Honda's dream was to fly. He dreamed of one day building a jet, but he passed away before that dream came true. The first Honda motorcycle was named "The Dream." In other words, this ad compresses the founder's unfulfilled dream and the company's history of continuing to move forward anyway into two minutes. One assessment notes: "You can't really understand this ad without knowing about Honda. It tells the story of Soichiro Honda's life symbolically, and it's completely brilliant."
The idea
Actor Simon Paisley Day sings, rides, and drives through scenic locations including the New Zealand coastline, Twin Ring Motegi in Japan, and Iguazu Falls in South America. The man sets off from a trailer, starting on a small minibike, jumps off the edge of the waterfall in a boat, and emerges from the mist as a hot air balloon bearing the Honda logo. It all begins when a vintage record player starts playing Andy Williams's "Impossible Dream." The grandeur of the locations, the parade of legendary Honda vehicles appearing one after another, and Andy Williams's singing all embody the founder's spirit of chasing an "impossible dream."
What happened
The ad won a Graphite Pencil in the Direction category at the D&AD Awards 2006. In 2010, an extended version 30 seconds longer was released, replacing the balloon ending with a Honda jet. It's reported that during the "Dream Factory" era, Honda successfully boosted its budget significantly and achieved awareness and consideration levels on par with Volkswagen, a company three times Honda's size. The extended version aired across 28 European markets and featured the Honda jet, the CR-Z Hybrid Coupe, the hydrogen-powered FCX Clarity, the robot Asimo, and Honda solar panels.
Afterthought
"Cog" and "Grrr" were both fantastic, but this "IMPOSSIBLE DREAM" carries the very soul of Honda as a company. The founder's dream of flying, and the way the company kept moving forward even though that dream went unfulfilled—it's all packed into these two minutes. As the vehicles change one after another to the sound of Andy Williams's voice, you can feel the eras, the technology, the dreams, all pushing forward. That moment when he jumps off the waterfall and comes back out of the mist in a balloon—I cried watching it. Dreams don't end. Nothing is impossible. Garrison Keillor's line, "I couldn't have put it better myself," ties it all together. No other words are needed.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2006
