Ahead of the 2019 Japanese F1 Grand Prix, Honda launched an animated, high-speed spot to celebrate the automaker’s home race at Suzuka.
The theme is the idea that ‘The Finish Line Is Never The End’ and the narrative arc visualises four iconic scenes from the team’s racing history mixing Japanese inspired animation with real footage.
The objective is to express Honda F1’s commitment to this GP and to look ahead to the next stage in the team’s history.
The client brief was to ‘create excitement and buzz’ around Honda and its home Japanese GP at Suzuka and to ‘celebrate its history with an eye ahead to the future’ and to promote the message that ‘no matter what the era or who the opponents, Honda constantly strives to be the best – every lap’.
Working with creative agency Digitas UK and production company Mainframe, the film focuses on Honda’s success on the racetrack through the years: it features highlights of Honda’s racing history from the RA272’s victory at 1965’s Mexican Grand Prix to Max Verstappen’s race-winning pass at this year’s Austrian Grand Prix and depicts legends like Richie Ginther, Ayrton Senna and Jenson Button
It also includes a giant animated features in a reference to the brand’s partnership with Scuderia Toro Rosso and Aston Martin Red Bull Racing.
Indeed, this year’s race marks the first Japanese GP at which four Honda-engined machines will take to the starting grid since back in 2007 when Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello raced for the ‘works’ Honda outfit and Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson lined up for Super Aguri at Fuji.
The animated aesthetic seeks to reflect both Japanese animation conventions and Honda’s own iconic colour palette of white, black and red. It blends the sounds of Honda engines with a propulsive music composition inspired by traditional Japanese Taiko drumming and cuts these with real footage supplied by Formula One.
The spot, which unveils new strapline ‘The finish line is never the end’, was released by Honda F1 across the race team’s social channels
The 60-second hero film launched on 8 October on YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.
A 30-second version will run across Japanese television through the weeks around the race, while a 15-second cut will play in Instagram stories.
A 60-second film will also be launched in China.
A series of shorter supporting 15-second social videos have also been created.
Catch up with the team ahead of our home Grand Prix
Race Setup
https://t.co/uIICNQhvU3#PoweredByHonda pic.twitter.com/WbTwZ4vSY8— Honda Racing F1 (@HondaRacingF1) October 8, 2019
A special flypast planned for Sunday's race with @hondajet Let's hope #TyphoonHagibis holds off for you guys #PoweredByHonda pic.twitter.com/8KgR3sKR34
— Honda Racing F1 (@HondaRacingF1) October 10, 2019
Drama V12's Murray on the mic
THAT Senna Prost moment, 30 years on… #PoweredByHonda
— Honda Racing F1 (@HondaRacingF1) October 9, 2019
Plus the team is encouraging fans to visit its Giphy page and make a case for which part of the new film they like most.
The finish line is never the end
ゴールは、まだ先にある#PoweredByHonda pic.twitter.com/YwN6kAf4VE— Honda Racing F1 (@HondaRacingF1) October 8, 2019
“This video summarises Honda’s time in F1 and shows just why the sport is part of our company DNA,” said Honda Managing Director Masashi Yamamoto.
“We have enjoyed some success with the two Red Bull teams this year and there’s been real enthusiasm from our fans. Let’s fight together to repay their support with a great result in Suzuka.”
Honda Technical Director Toyoharu Tanabe added: “This video features several scenes that bring back good memories of my past times with Honda in F1. Now, we’d like to add to that history by working for a great result in Suzuka.”
James Whatley, strategy director at Digitas, commented: “The fan reaction to our first Powered by Honda film was so incredible, so rich – we felt it would be remiss to not revisit this unique animation style once again for Honda’s home trip to Suzuka this season. The result is an outstanding piece of work that captures not only the history of Honda’s racing achievements through the years but also the tremendous excitement and energy that Honda-powered F1 cars deliver and develop on track year after year after year.”
The work was created by a Digitas team which included Executive Creative Director Peter Drake, Creative Jonny Palmer, Copywriter Lucy Green, Art Director Ryan Timms, Strategy Director James Whatley, Client Director Jared Howe, Client Lead Clementine Clough and Agency Producer Emma Gilbert.
Sound design was by Strings & Tins, the production company was Mainframe, with Producer Philip Archer, Lead 3D Editor Jonathan May, 3D Artists Duncan Tune, Marcus Fernandes, Roger Chiaw, Nick Lyons, Richard Payne and Diogo Dias.
Comment:
This spot is essentially Digitas’ sequel to the acclaimed and similarly animated ‘Powered By Honda’ film released in April earlier this year.
The ‘Powered by Honda’ positioning and strapline emerged following a string of racing successes for Honda in the 1980s and 1990s and Honda is using F1 to spearhead its umbrella ‘Powered by Honda’ positioning across range of products and the initial animated activation showed a variety of Honda-powered vehicles and machines racing against each other.
It aimed to promote Honda’s leading role in Formula One, following the successful launch of its new partnership with Aston Martin Red Bull Racing and its existing partnership with Scuderia Toro Rosso and came in 60-, 30- and 15-second versions running across Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
At the April launch, Peter Drake, Executive Creative Director at Digitas UK said: “Using animation gave us the freedom to create an extraordinary imaginary race sequence to showcase Honda’s unique attitude. Then revealing the 2019 Honda-powered F1 cars in live action unequivocally brings the ‘Powered by Honda’ line to life.”
The latest high octane animated film veers sharply from animation to real life footage as it flashes glimpses of Honda Racing’s history since 1965.
If you’ve got a Honda, it might just affect the way you feel when you next get into it!
It can’t be helped, but if you aren’t paying attention it might get lost in the avalanche of Japanese animated ads leveraging the Japan 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Links:
Honda F1 Team
https://www.instagram.com/HondaRacingF1/
https://twitter.com/HondaRacingF1
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEVL0QK0b4Wsom58Zm-GUJA
Digitas UK
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.