Brilliant Online Marketing

Submitted by jgazis on Fri, 2008-09-12 11:12.

I stumbled across (ha! - I was targeted by-- ) this terrific bit of online advertising for the Honda CR-V. I followed a link from the top of my Gmail that said "Are you craving pizza? - www.honda.com - Whatever you're craving, the Crave Reader can guess. Try it out." (Note: The links don't seem to go to the same page now. I don't know why they wouldn't leave the ad up, but apparently they didn't.)

Who can resist an Internet quiz? Especially one that tells you something profound, personal, or silly about yourself - there are zillions of these out there. The link goes to an interactive graphic of the car, with a 360-degree view, zooms inside, where you find a panel that asks elimination questions like one of those handheld 20-questions style electronic games. Again, fun and engaging. When it answers, it swivels around to the back of the car and either opens the hatch to reveal the object or shows a bumper sticker with the answer.

I started with nothing in mind, and then settled on wine. First, it guessed zucchini - so even the wrongness was amusing - and then it guessed tomato juice, and then it guessed right. (This is where I got the bumper sticker, probably a smart choice not to juxtapose visuals of alcohol with the vehicle.) It shows off the product in a fun way and is sure to get a lot of pass-along, word-of-mouth exposure. The page is clean and well-designed with prominent logo, clear links to forward the page or see more information, and no extraneous, distracting material. The pun on CR-V and Crave is clever; overall it's sharp and well done.

The only "minor" problem is that I am not their target (demographically in most respects, very much so, I imagine; if I were looking at cars, this looks like the kind of car I might look at). But in actual life, I'm a New Yorker who has never owned a car, doesn't own one now, and doesn't expect to be shopping for one any time in the next decade or two. Oh well - nothing is perfect. In concept and execution, this is a nice campaign. I'll be interested to see what off-line promotions they have to tie in with this (or that this ties in with).

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