Honda diesel engines say Grrr
Honda introduced their i-CTDi diesel car engine in 2004 with what became a multi-award-winning television commercial known as “Grrr” and “Hate/Change”.
We open up on an animated scene – tropical flowers, green manicured meadows, crystal clear lakes and mountains lit by sun rays. The hedges are trimmed with the letters, H, A, T and E. We soon see why the environment has developed this ‘hate’. Noisy, smoky diesel engines zoom through the environment, hassling the wildlife. The rainbow gives one of the engines the flick. White bunny rabbits take on ear muffs before shooting arrows at an engine. And hey – something changes. The engine is now clean, noiseless and friendly to the environment.
The concept for the ad comes from the Honda lead engineer being asked to design a diesel engine. Kenichi Nagahiro had long resisted the idea, on the grounds that diesel engines were smelly and noisy, bad for the environment. But his hate for the diesel engine led to the development of a new engine much kinder on the eyes, ears and nose, not to mention the animals. The engine was fitted in the new Accord and introduced to the UK in early 2004.
The lyrics for the Honda Diesel Hate ad are sung by Garrison Keillor, American author and voice artist, along with Wieden + Kennedy writers and whistlers Michael Russoff, Sean Thompson and Richard Russell, under the band name “Be Nice to the Pigeons”.
Lyrics for Hate Something Change Something
Here’s a little song for anyone who’s ever hated…
in the key of Grr
Can hate be good?
Can hate be great?
Can hate be good?
Can hate be great?
Can hate be something we don’t hate?
Whistling…
We’d like to know
why it is so
that certain diesels must be slow
and thwack and thrum
and pong and hum
can clatter clat
Hate something
Change something
Hate something change something
Make something better
Whistling…
Oh isn’t it just bliss
when a diesel goes just like this?
Whistling…
Sing it like you hate it…
Hate something
Change something
Hate something
Change something
Make something better
The ad features creatures associated with environmental protection, innocence and joy… butterflies, swans, peacock, deer, humming birds, frog, chickens, bunnies, seahorses, turtles, goats, penguins, pink flamingos, robin, dolphins, seals and a ladybird.
The campaign also came out with an online flash-based game – featuring a rabbit that visits nine environments, eats carrots, and changes shoddy technology into environmentally friendly features.
Credits
This was a collaborative effort, with Sean Thompson, Richard Russell and Michael Russoff sharing the work with Kim Papworth & Tony Davidson.
Filming and animation was done by Nexus Productions, with directors and editors Adam Foulkes & Alan Smith, producers Chris O’Reilly, Charlotte Bavasso and Julie Parfitt.
Sound Design was provided by Amber Music & Wave Studios. The song was composed by W+K creative Michael Russoff as he wandered around the agency with a guitar. In fact he presented it to Honda with his guitar!
Wieden + Kennedy UK Ltd host the ad as a 5.67 mb shockwave flash video.
Public Responses
Ann Cooper interviews Michael Russoff in The One Club:
“Grrr�? had a great response when it broke. Before long, people were whistling it in the street. Most memorably, there was a call from someone who ran a drug rehabilitation clinic. She loved the philosophy of “Hate Something, Change Something,�? and felt it could inspire the group of drug addicts she was working with. Many people think advertising is shallow because there are so many shallow ads out there. “Grrr�? says you can be thoughtful without being worthy. You can say something interesting and be entertaining about it. If people are going to give you a big budget to go and make something, you should be doing something useful with that. You have an opportunity to change the way people think about something.”
The tv advert has been voted the best commercial at Epica (d’Or) 2004, British Television Advertising Awards (BTAA), Advertising Creative Circle Award, International Andy Awards, D&AD Awards, Golden Award of Montreux, The One Show, CLIO Awards, Cannes Lions, Cresta Awards, to mention a few!
Grrr Online
The best version of the ad I’ve seen is the 15 mb quicktime movie found at D&AD Awards 2004 winner site, followed by the 8.9 mb quicktime movie to be found at British Television Advertising Awards.
See Wieden + Kennedy’s pdf presentation on the making of the ad.
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Posted in Inspiration, TV Ads Cinema and Online Videos
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(4.92 out of 5)
Is there any influence from Bud Luckey, who wrote the original tune along with the short film, Bounding. The tune and voice are so like him that there must be some sort of connection???!!
Very clever and extremely catchy tune, with an excellent video. In my head costantly,so it must be working right.
Remarkably similar lyrics may be found at
http://eclectech.co.uk/parp.php