Honda launched “This is the Power of Dreams” in January, its debut marketing campaign as the official automotive partner of the U.S. Olympics and Paralympics teams. The campaign, which features athletes from Team USA and spotlights several products across Honda and its luxury Acura line, will run throughout the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Games (Feb. 6-22). It also sets the foundation for an even bigger presence at the LA28 Summer Olympics.
We caught up with Ed Beadle, VP of Digital Services & Marketing at American Honda Motor Co., for a look under the hood of the new campaign as well as the company’s influencer marketing efforts and overall sports strategy.
“This is the Power of Dreams” was designed as a modular campaign, allowing Honda to mix and match key creative and same-day footage from Milan Cortina across all of its channels and verticals. This approach means they can incorporate athlete highlights and viral moments as quickly as possible into primetime TV spots and social video while they’re still relevant.
“Within two hours, say one of our athletes wins the gold — we could edit that footage, put it in the spot and have it on air,” Beadle explained. Honda is partnering with NBC, the exclusive U.S. broadcaster, to capture video. The goal, Beadle said, is to “quickly pivot to the moment.” Since you can’t predict what the big stories of the Olympics are going to be ahead of time, modularity “adds that level of versatility.”
That’s particularly important in today’s social media ecosystem where algorithms are constantly feeding users new, refreshed content. Beadle said Honda is thinking about “how fast does an ad wear out on social media? I’m a heavy TikTok user, and one or two times you see it in your scrolls, it’s done, you move on. You have to have another asset.”
Audience Segmentation and Thinking Beyond Automotive
Also important is segmenting those different messages for separate audiences where it’s relevant, Beadle added. “The Olympics is the perfect opportunity, because you have all these different sports and then you think about how is Honda different than most auto sponsors of the Olympics in the past. Honda isn’t solely an automotive company. We have motorcycles, power equipment, marine.” That “variability” is something Honda is thinking about long-term as it plans for LA28. “You can just imagine a world where a surfer’s picked up with a Honda marine engine.”
The Winter Games will be watched by millions of people around the world, delivering broad reach for its brand partners. The challenge for marketing teams is segmenting such a large audience for different ads. Beadle said Honda analyzed what makes an audience “luxury” and which consumers are more receptive to an Acura ad versus a Honda Civic ad, and where a motorcycle would make sense.
“[Those are] three different audiences,” Beadle said. “We know based on our data when we look at who the buyer is, and then through partners and the alignment of those different sports and competitions, you can see which brands do well for those audiences in each place and mix and match.” Honda is also doing a lot of real-time testing, according to Beadle. “Sometimes you’d like to think you have the right message for the right space, but it’s amazing — with social you know so fast what is resonating on your social channels and what is not.”
With social specifically, Honda also looks at what it’s running on a channel-by-channel basis. “What’s the objective of the campaign? Is it upper, middle or lower funnel? You can use TikTok or a Meta on a lower funnel basis, but you can also use it as a reach vehicle.”
On the linear side, Honda worked closely with NBC’s data to see what worked in the past. “They have an incredible amount of data on the success of various campaigns and what elements resonate with customers. So we can use that as a benchmark [and] test things,” Beadle said. “We ran a few concepts through and said, ‘How do they measure up? What are the benchmarks to pass campaigns over those elements?’”
How Honda Is Using AI to Create Campaigns
Honda is also leveraging AI tools for its campaigns, which Beadle said has made an immediate impact on productivity, reducing concept time and production costs.
“Just take a storyboard,” Beadle explained. “A creative, in the past, has an amazing idea for an ad. They see it clearly in their head. They sell it to the client. The client sees it clearly in their head. But when the real thing comes out, that’s not what [they] thought you said. So now, in real time to see a storyboard or see creative, is unbelievable.” For the Milan Cortina campaign, Honda used AI for prototyping. “I had finished concepts that I could give feedback on before we had any talent shot,” he said.
But the human element of the storytelling is just as important, particularly when it comes to the 10 U.S. athletes representing Honda in the campaign. Focusing on the athletes brings “authenticity,” according to Beadle. “Who’s a better storyteller than the athletes themselves? … In a TikTok world, that recognition of ad versus content, ideally, is a blurred line where it’s bringing an entertainment value and information overall.”
Live Sports Beyond the Olympics
Live sports are a huge part of Honda’s marketing strategy, and the brand is not just at the Olympics. The company invests heavily in being part of NFL broadcasts and March Madness. You’ll also see Honda messaging during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be held in North America, including across several cities in the U.S.
“We live in this world where achieving reach is almost limited to sports these days,” Beadle said. “Anytime we run NFL or major sporting events with scale, you can’t deny the traffic spikes to your website and then the engagement that follows. It’s become a critical piece for us.”
The start of Milan Cortina may still be a few days away, but Beadle’s already thinking about LA28. With the Team USA partnership already set, Beadle said, “this is probably the longest lead time on anything I’ve been a part of.” Honda began planning for the summer 2028 event last year, which is much longer than what is customary in automotive. “Usually you start the marketing plan like a year, maybe at most 16 months ahead of time, where you’re really thinking about your budgets and the planning and the activation,” Beadle added.
Beyond staffing up and gathering the right resources for LA28, the Honda team also has to think about the vehicles themselves. “We provide LA28 with vehicles. So what’s the production cycle for those vehicles? What mix of vehicles? We’re already deep in that.”
