MSN Rolling Video For Honda Campaign.

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Author: Wasserman, Todd

MEDIA

IN ITS MOST ELABORATE effort yet to create a "custom environment" for an advertiser, MSN this week is bowing an area called "Critical Decisions" that offers video clips and a quiz tying in with the online launch of Honda's 2004 Accord.

Banner ads on other MSN properties such as Hotmail and Messenger will direct users to Criticaldecisions.msn.com. Once there, users can run humorous 60-second video vignettes about significant life-changing events.

The site spotlights seven in particular, including leaving home, finding the right job and getting married, and asks users how they would navigate through them. MSN produced the video in-house.

Those interested in the Accord can get more information and even submit a lead to a local dealer. "Branding persists throughout," said Gayle Troberman, director of custom solutions for MSN.

Troberman said the life events theme relates to the target Accord user, who is between 25 and 49. "They're targeting people in transition, making big life decisions because that's often when they buy a new car," she said.

MSN, a unit of Microsoft, has worked on other auto launches. In 2001, Volvo bowed its XC90 SUV via MSN. Volvo currently runs "Digital Garage," an online area for Volvo users on the Internet service. MSN has also linked with Lexus for Lexus. MSN, a sort of online luxury magazine.

The effort is one of several ways Honda is looking to create buzz for the vehicle. In April, the company bowed a much-talked-about spot in the U.K., via Weiden + Kennedy, London, showing a chain reaction using car parts. Honda also broke its Accord campaign in September via Ruben Postaer & Associates, Santa Monica, Calif.

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By Todd Wasserman