On May 29 at 8:10 pm, Channel 4 in Britain aired Honda’s live skydiving ad during the first commercial pod in Come Dine with Me. The ad featured 19 skydivers spelling out the word ‘Honda’ in the sky over Spain over about three minutes and 20 seconds. The inspiration for the initiative was the brand’s newest line: ‘Difficult is worth doing.’
Wieden & Kennedy London developed the campaign, which began with unbranded skydiving clips airing in commercial pods. Earlier this month, those ads drove viewers to the previously unbranded microsite www.difficultisworthdoing.com, where a blog shared tips on skydiving.
The initiative was reportedly the result of Channel 4’s idea winning Honda’s approval over 19 others. Naturally, the initiative got some attention in the mainstream press, and a Guardian blog is racking up comments on the issue.
How many views on YouTube so far? There are multiple postings on the site, and we didn’t feel like adding up all the views. However, a search for ‘Honda live skydive’ turned up results ranging from the low teens to over 5,000 as of Monday morning.