Our joint Creative Director Tony Davidson (above) just got back from judging the Andys awards in Florence. As they say, it’s a dirty job but…
He writes:

Whilst judging the Andys it became clear to myself and Andy Berlin that these were some categories to avoid. Mike Byrne put them on the Andys weblog, but thought you might find them vaguely amusing. (So I’ve reproduced them here.)

Categories to avoid:

The ‘it¹s a blatant lie’ category.

The ‘gag with the product you don’t remember stuck on the end’ category.

The ‘The Office was a good show on British TV, let’s rip it off badly’ category.

The ‘People playing sports around the city streets with lots of long lens shots’ category.

The ‘Civilization is boring, let’s kill everyone and blow up the buildings’ category.

The ‘This only ran once and I paid for it myself’ category.

The ‘Ad voice at the end that explains what the fuck’s been going on up until here’ category.

The ‘I won the lottery, look what I bought’ category.

The ‘I hate being in advertising and am going to pretend this is a movie’ category.

The ‘It’s a film trailer, no it isn’t, it’s an ad’ category.

The ‘Same ad done the same way three times isn’t a campaign’ category.

The ‘Talking animals’ category.

The ‘Let’s come back to a not very funny joke after the pack shot’ category. (aka: the reach around)

The ‘Continuous piece of dialogue cutting between different people’ category.

The ‘One person in an empty city’ category.

The ‘Someone talking with someone else’s voice dubbed over the top’ category.

The ‘Referencing our own industry’ category.

The ‘Long-winded, over-length and to be honest not worth it when I get to the end’ category.

The ‘I have no idea what this ad is saying’ category.

The ‘Car driving down a winding road looking like every other car category’

The ‘It could be any beer’ category.

The ‘Special effects is the idea’ category.

The ‘Enter it in every category until it wins something’ category.

The ‘It’s real video footage and then something totally unreal happens’ category.

The ‘Best use of people coming together to make a shape’ category.

The ‘Repeating an idea that’s already been done’ category.

The ‘Gratuitous sex for no reason’ category.

The ‘I can see the ending coming immediately’ category.

The ‘Pull back to reveal’ category.

The ‘Short films on websites that have absolutely no relevance to the product’ category.

There’s a big chunk of coverage in today’s Marketing magazine about Honda, occasioned by the imminent departure of Simon Thompson, their former marketing director, who is joining Motorola. Much of the coverage relates to the work that Wieden + Kennedy has done for Honda and the results we’ve achieved. Editor Craig Smith says,

"Impossible Dream – ‘Superb. I nearly stood up and cheered when the hot air balloon rose out of the canyon.’ (Pause for response.) ‘Yes. Overly long, overly expensive, self indulgent b*****ks.’ On consideration, both views are correct, and not necessarily opposed."

I’m not sure how this can be the case. But anyway, he goes on:

"There are plenty of examples in other sectors where expensive, creative, award-winning advertising has registered nary a blip on the product’s sales chart. Creative advertising does not equal commercial success. Except that in this case it does."

I have to point out here that our work isn’t trying to be ‘creative’ for the sake of it. We’re trying to create communications that tell the truth about Honda as a company and a brand, and by doing so to achieve business results for our Honda client. With some success, as a feature article in the same magazine points out:

"Honda’s inconoclastic ads have broken the mould of bland homogeneity that has long afflicted the motor industry’s marketing. The marque’s rising market share should sound a salutary warning to bigger rivals…Market share has risen from less than 3% in 2001 to more than 4% and in 2005 Honda continued to grow its share in a market where sales were down by 5%. Over the past four years awareness of the brand in the UK has risen from 12% to 28%; of those, the number who would consider buying the brand has risen from 28% to 33%. Additionally, Honda has risen from eighth to third place in JD Power’s customer satisfaction rankings and its dealers were ranked top for customer service last eyar by Auto Express. Repeat purchase has risen from 30% to 50% and the average age of buyers has fallen from 56 to 49, in line with the market. These results have allowed Honda to raise its prices. The average price of a new Civic is £16,000, compared with £10,000 five years ago, in a market where the average price of a car has fallen by about 8%. All this with a budget that, at £18-£20 million, is less than half of Toyota and VW."

So, you heard it from them not us. The campaign is delivering for Honda. Big time.