Case Study: Element Campaign Nothing to Crab About

Japanese automaker Honda had a problem with its image. Its core buyer was older, but it wanted to appeal to younger drivers.

So in fall 2005, Honda’s marketing agency of record, Santa Monica, CA-based Rubin Postaer and Associates (RPA), took to the Internet to try to engage younger potential drivers of its Element SUV.

When Honda introduced the Element, RPA’s campaigns focused on the vehicle’s 64 different configurations and its multifunctional attributes. But when that focus failed to meet expectations, RPA created the “Element and Friends” campaign, which reflected the quirkiness of the vehicle, said David Berne, senior vice president, director of strategic planning at RPA, at Experian’s Future of Information Summit on Jan. 18.

The “Friends” were an opossum, a donkey, a rabbit, and a scene-stealing crab named Gil, who turned 30-second online video spots into viral hits. Videos from the “Element and Friends” Website made their way to YouTube, and last June, Gil got his own page on MySpace (and currently has almost 100,000 friends).

Gil, whose catchphrase is “I pinch,” even got its own Website, Savethecrab.com, in August, when he was arrested, charged with wrongful pinching and possession of crabgrass, and “fired” as the Honda spokescrab. The news of his arrest and termination was released via Court TV’s The Smoking Gun Website. “Save the Crab” T-shirts were sold on CafePress.com.

By the time it was revealed in October that Daniel the lobster had framed Gil, the overall opinion of the Element among the target market had risen 30%, Berne said. This has not yet translated into increased sales of the Element among younger consumers, Berne admitted, but he said that the campaign proved that RPA and Honda could market “to” and not “at” the particular demographic. The campaign also showed younger consumers that Honda was a company that understood their sense of humor and choice of media—and therefore was likely to understand what they want in an automobile.

Besides, as Berne noted, the Element “is a vehicle that is still in limited production, so we had a looser leash with this campaign than others we’ve done for Honda. If this was for the Accord, and bottom-line sales were a factor, we wouldn’t be given such a loose leash.”