Honda's new brand campaign takes imaginative journey



(October 18, 2021)  TORRANCE, Calif. — Honda debuts a new brand marketing campaign today, taking viewers on a journey through the company’s global, 73-year product history to demonstrate how it will continue innovating to fulfill the vision of founder Soichiro Honda that “the purpose of technology is to help people.” The “Origin of Determination” campaign kicks off with a new 60-second TV spot highlighting over 100 of Honda’s pioneering products, while pointing toward Honda’s future.

The new, multi-channel brand campaign brings to life many of the company’s most iconic products. Starting with Honda’s first product, the 1947 A-Type motorcycle, the TV spot features a host of legendary two and four-wheeled race machines, the all-new 2022 Civic, and the wide-ranging Honda product portfolio including cars, light trucks, motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles, marine engines and the HondaJet Elite S.

“Through this new brand campaign we are telling a story only Honda can tell, about a company determined to help make people’s lives better – cleaner, more safe, and more fun – by constantly advancing mobility through sheer determination,” said Jay Joseph, vice president of Marketing & Customer Experience.

“We want our loyal customers and those new to the brand to know that they inspire our challenging spirit that has led to everything they have seen so far and continues to inspire our engineers who are working on the next generations of Honda products.”

Creating the “Origin of Determination” TV spot to reflect over 100 Honda products required a combination of historical photos, live-action and computer graphics (CG) models to tell the company’s mobility story in one, action-packed sequence. Throughout the spot, viewers will see a rapidly expanding supernova of products flowing out in all directions, representing the origin story of Honda.



Viewers will see new and iconic heritage Honda products during the 60-second spot set to “Stampede” – a remix of Verdi’s "La Traviata, Act I” – by Superhuman, including:  

    •    1949 Honda Dream D-Type: the first original motorcycle created by Soichiro Honda
    •    S600 sports car: the company’s first passenger car
    •    RA272 Formula 1 race car: the first Honda race machine to win an F1 race in 1965, and various other Honda-powered race machines
    •    1973 Honda Civic: the breakthrough first-generation Civic that led the industry in meeting the stricter exhaust emissions requirements of the U.S. Clean Air Act without using a catalytic converter
    •    2022 Honda Civic: the best-handling, best-equipped and most fun-to-drive Civic ever
    •    Honda’s rugged light truck lineup: including the 2022 Ridgeline pickup
    •    Honda powersports products: including the Talon sport side-by-side
    •    HondaJet Elite S: the fastest, farthest and highest-flying aircraft in its class

Honda worked with its agency of record, RPA, on the new brand campaign. Director Paul Mitchell, known for his passionate storytelling with a cinematic eye and the ability to connect live-action with visual effects, and VFX company, A52, helped bring the Honda “Origin of Determination” creative to life.

“Origin of Determination” will include 60-second and 30-second TV spots. The spots will be featured across multiple media channels from broadcast television and on-demand platforms to top-tier digital and lifestyle properties, as well as on social media.