The Work: Honda, Problem Playground

The Lowdown

Wieden & Kennedy's new TV commercial for Honda is the climax of its 2008 brand campaign that launched earlier this year.

The 90-second spot (supported by three 30' cutdowns) reinforces how Honda strives to solve problems to reduce the impact of its products on the environment.

It opens on an army of Honda workers building a sculpture of its hybrid engine using thousands of Rubik cubes.

In quick motion the sculpture is built and the team then heads outdoors to face further puzzles such as building energy efficient solar panels.

Even adding sugar to their cup of tea is an ingenuous exercise in problem solving and the chain reaction of the sequence has shades of a micro version of "cog".

Finally the crowd move on to build a gigantic jigsaw model of the first hydrogen powered zero emissions vehicle. The voiceover explains that when you love solving things "every problem becomes a playground".

Credits

Project name: ‘Honda - Problem Playground'
Client: Ian Armstrong, manager customer communications, Honda UK
Brief: To showcase Honda's environmental credentials
Creative agency: Wieden & Kennedy
Copywriter: Sam Heath
Art director: Frank Ginger
Planner: Paul Colman
Media Agency: Starcom
Media Planner: Martin Lalich-Newman
Media spend: Undisclosed
Production company: Partizan
Director: Antoine Bardou-Jacquet
Editor: Bill Smeadley
Post-production: The Mill
Audio post-production: Parv Thind, Wave Studios
Exposure: TV