Our most recent project, “Heritage,” celebrates the launch of the 2012 Honda Civic. The goal was to create something with real emotion. There obviously wasn’t a budget for special effects or flying ninjas, but we did feel there was an opportunity to speak to multiple generations with a single video. The location photography was captured with a single Canon 7D and great effort went into gathering vintage commercials to show the evolution of the Civic.
With the footage in the can, obtaining the proper soundtrack was the necessary next step. Tier10 Creative Director Scott Rodgers passed the music of Grammy-winning Dirty Vegas to me. In a short time, I decided the track, “Today,” carried the emotion required to lift the video off the ground.
Now live, the video has taken on a life of its own. Dealerships around the nation found the video almost immediately and began re-purposing it on their respective blog and social media platforms. Soon after, the reputable Autoblog.com ran the video in a post that spoke of, “the automaker (is) taking a moment to look back at the history of its popular compact.” I’ll take the displacement of credit per the authorship of the video as a compliment.
The immediate future of the video holds for a few more blog posts to be authored by the talented writers of Tier10, some automotive-focused press vignettes, and continued conversations with viewers on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. It is the hope of this filmmaker that folks outside of the automotive industry find as much technical and creative inspiration from the video as those inside of it have.
We find ourselves in a time when any person’s displeasure regarding a given brand’s advertising can be remedied with that person producing an ad of his or her own, one that more aptly represents their impression of the brand. I find this incredibly empowering. Technology is both affordable and efficient, making the logistical processes required minimal. Legions of young minds with an accelerated understanding of modern media will be providing content in the coming years that will revolutionize video marketing as we know it.
To the antiquated, established advertising agency: I suggest you bring your A-game.
