HONDA – Talking Monkey

christian sternal

creative director | copywriter

I’ve owned more than a dozen cars over the years. Fast ones, big ones, coupes, a little bit of everything. I have some favorites. Like my ’66 Mustang GT because…well, c’mon. But my favorite out of all of them is my 2003 Honda Element. It just works, and keeps on working. I may never get rid of it. Point being, Honda and I go way back. So it was really wonderful to be able to do some work with them for a while.

Engineering Indy

Honda engineers are ridiculously good at what they do. Especially when they’re designing and building some of the most powerful and reliable engines in Indy 500 history. That’s why the brand made sure to go the extra mile to give them a shout out every year snd put them on a pedestal for helping to put some of the best drivers in the world on the podium.

0% Failure Rate

Not a single Honda engine failed at Indy between 2006 and 2010.

Honda Summer Clearance Event

Unfortunately, the agency-recommended brand campaign that I was working on—the lead concept through every round of presentations—was unceremoniously drawn and quartered in the last round of testing by a focus group of consumers with nothing better to do on a weekday afternoon. Devastated, I tried to salvage some of my dignity by writing some amusing lines for their annual deal-heavy clearance event. It made me feel a little better.

"Surprise Passenger" Radio

A little research revealed that most people would be listening to these particular spots in their cars. So I designed them to play to the environment. In the final mix we pushed all the VO and SFX over to only the right channel—the passenger side—so it sounded more like a Honda guy just opened your car door, got in and started talking.

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