RPA and Honda Tap Neil Patrick Harris and Rainn Wilson to Promote the Honda Odyssey

By Erik Oster 

RPA’s new campaign for the Honda Odyssey launches next week, featuring the voice-acting talents of Neil Patrick Harris and Rainn Wilson. The spots all revolve around the Odyssey’s new built-in vacuum cleaner, the kind of car feature that seems so obvious you have to wonder why it hasn’t been done before.

The spots feature various talking debris — discarded toys and snacks– talking about how great the Odyssey is, only to be swept up by the built-in vacuum cleaner. This begs the question: are these anthropomorphized bits of detritus harmed or killed by the Honda Odyssey’s vacuum cleaner? The moral implications of vacuuming up sentient garbage are not broached by the two 30 second and one 15 second spots.

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Honda’s campaign doesn’t end with the morally ambiguous commercials, however. The campaign will be spread through online video, homepage takeovers, gaming, mobile, location-based targeting and print, in addition to the network and cable TV spots. Honda has also aligned with Fox to feature the Odyssey, along with other Honda models, on “The X Factor,” starting with the season premiere on Septemer 9th. So basically Honda and RPA are going all out with their campaign to promote the Odyssey. Prepare for the barrage of Odyssey marketing everywhere, complete with the new tagline “Start Something Special.”

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