by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Car Fanatic…
Remember when Honda could do no wrong? Back in the ’90s and the ’00s, it seemed like every other person in L.A. drove a Honda, and they’d never have to take their car in for repairs or recalls. Indeed, my buddy is still driving his Civic nearly 20 years and over 200,000 miles later.
What the hell happened?
Honda has hit one pothole after another: the ugly Crosstour social media fiasco, the Fit recalls, the Civic slam by Consumer Reports, the ad agency shakeup…
And now this:
Thanks for tweeting #wantnewcar! Goodnight for now—we’ll see you at The Honda Summer Clearance Event :)
— Honda (@Honda) July 16, 2013
OK, it’s just a tweet, and a seemingly innocuous one, but it’s a fiasco on so many levels…
First it appeared on my Twitter wall as a promoted tweet. I don’t follow Honda, so they PAID for me to see this. Why?
- I never tweeted #wantnewcar. In fact, I just bought a new car six months ago.
- Since I hadn’t been talking with them, and have no future plans to do so, why are they wishing me “goodnight for now”?
- I have zero plans to go to the Honda Summer Clearance Event.
- I’m baffled by the Vine video [since deleted by Honda]. A guy sleeping in a car? I know Hondas have become boring, but did they want to advertise that?
Hmmm, I’m now wondering if I should alert Honda to the fact that their Twitter account appears to have been hacked. At least, I hope it was, because this demonstrates a level of social media incompetence that I wouldn’t expect from a giant brand. I’m guessing they may have laid off one too many experts in their ad agency shakeup.
Well, it could be worse. After 25 years, Honda’s Acura account was given to another ad agency. Hundreds of people at the old agency lost their jobs, and the new agency finally unveiled their winning new slogan for Acura (drum roll please)…
“Made for Mankind.”
Really.
Now I know why that guy was sleeping in that car.
Update 11/4/2013: Honda has now deleted the inane tweet and video. Glad to see someone’s awake at Honda HQ.
Update 6/4/2015: Honda’s latest inept move was moving their TV budget to sponsoring concerts, totally missing out that, 1) Most young people can’t afford new cars; 2) Those who can go for something sexier than a Civic; 3) People don’t think about cars at concerts. So far they’re getting “impressions” (whatever they’re worth), but their branded online content destination has been a total wreck.
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