Honda campaign tries a new tact with customers thanks to Santa Monica ad agency
By REAGAN WHEELER I Special to the Daily Press
MID-CITY A random chair adorning the wall and a missile, launch button included, adorning the foyer aren’t typically office decor mainstays. Then again, Secret Weapon Marketing isn’t the typical marketing company.
The decidedly off-the-wall ideas bandied about by Secret Weapon Managing Director Pat Adams and founder Dick Sittig are at the fore of a major Southern California marketing campaign this year — “Helpful Honda.”
No doubt, locals and tourists alike have crossed paths with the “Guys and Girls in Blue,” providing sunbathers on the Santa Monica sands with beach umbrellas one week, shining their shoes on the Third Street Promenade the next.
The do-gooders leave often leave their random recipients wondering: What gives?
The integrated marketing campaign, which includes radio, television, online and outdoor messages, sets out to bely the notion that all advertising is self-serving, that sometimes, advertising can actually be helpful.
“We’re dealing with the dynamic of buying a car,” Adams said. “Since 1976, car salespeople have been the least trusted people in business every year except one. Right behind that is advertising.”
This year, advertisers top the list, prompting Honda to set about keeping it that way. The company hired the Santa Monica-based marketing firm in September 2006, and Secret Weapon had a full television, radio, Internet and street team campaign up and running within four months, starting Jan. 29.
“Secret Weapon really wanted to change the way car dealers are perceived and really take it to the streets,” said Lauren Kay, spokesperson for KurenT, Inc., a Los Angeles marketing and public relations firm.
The creative force behind the campaign — Sittig — also helped hatch the Energizer Bunny and has been a driving force behind the last 300 Jack in the Box commercials. He and Adams both arrived from large companies when they launched Secret Weapon.
“We were pulled in 12 different directions every day,” Adams said. “Our goal for Secret Weapon was to have no more than three clients.”
This idea of having fewer clients helps separate the marketing firm from other major advertising companies. Their belief that three is larger than 12 can be directly linked the Honda Helpful campaign, which attempts to achieve a personal repertoire with Honda customers.
Getting out on the street was crucial to both Honda and Secret Weapon, to change the perceptions of what is often “a painful and gut-wrenching experience,” Adams said, referring to the act of buying a vehicle.
People often think that they are getting taken advantage of by shady salespeople, but with the new campaign, Honda’s “Guys and Girls in Blue” are giving the advantage back to the buyers, or potential buyers. Commercials have shown the blue crew — hired specifically for the campaign — doing anything and everything for the public at large, from helping teach drawing class to donating a kidney.
“It was about time that someone address that elephant in the room – people love new cars, but hate the process of buying them,” Adams said.
Local dealers are stepping outside the box and creating events to help sell the Helpful Honda image, too.
“What Honda’s doing and what we’re doing is three-dimensional,” said Sean Ramezani, general manager at Honda of Santa Monica. “Actually getting out there is something completely different.”
Ramezani has been trying to integrate Secret Weapon’s regional campaign into the local dealership by organizing events in Santa Monica.
Last weekend, Honda of Santa Monica hosted a free shoe-shine event on the Third Street Promenade, with a poster that read: “With all the miles on your shoes, let us give you a shine.”Ramezani is also planning a complimentary club-cleaning at a local golf course.
While the good Samaritan events are put on by the car dealers, organizers are careful to keep Honda brochures or promotional items from the sites.
“I always think,‘How will the acts impact a person’s day?’” said Ramezani.
Secret Weapon’s Adams and Sittig thought along similar lines, wanting to bring to life what was being shown in the commercials, to show customers that Honda was different. The fact that a first impression can make a big impact on a person’s decision and a random act of kindness can make a great first impression was foremost on their minds during the planning stages.
“The strategy is to bring the campaign to life on a personal level with people,” said Sittig.“Maybe they’ll think, What has my car company done for me lately?’”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 25, 2007. Read the original PDF.