MUMBAI: American Honda Motor and Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block are teaming for the first time to inspire creative, out-of-the-box thinking from viewers for an unusual promotion. The aim is to develop scores of original animated shorts in the vein of Adult Swim’s quirky, off-beat programming
Timed with the launch of Honda’s all-new 2006 Civic models and its new marketing tagline, Civic: It will reverse your thinking, the campaign will accept submissions of up to five minutes on Adult Swim.com received between 3 October and 27 November. Adult Swim animators of such hit properties as Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law and Sealab 2021 will judge all entries, choosing one winner that will be presented to the world on AdultSwim.com and on Adult Swim VOD. The promotion was created in conjunction with Honda’s advertising agency, RPA.
Adult Swim senior VP Mike Lazzo says, “One of the things we’ve heard most often about Adult Swim’s wide range of hit original shows is that viewers themselves feel they could come up with an equally outlandish premise for a new story or set of characters. We see this as the perfect opportunity for every would-be animator out there to show us how crazy they could get and beat us at our own game. I personally can’t wait to see what comes in!”
Honda senior manager national advertising Tom Peyton says, “The Honda Civic brand has always appealed primarily to a young adult demo. With Adult Swim’s overwhelming dominance in the television marketplace among hip, young adults 18-34, we knew it offered direct communication to our target audience. Adult Swim and Honda Civic share a distinct marketing sensibility, so this first-time partnership is a natural fit for both our brands.”
Adult Swim will create a 30-second spot to run throughout the solicitation period that will take viewers directly into the minds of the writers and producers at Williams Street, the Adult Swim production studio where most of its original series are created. Complete details of the campaign, an official entry form and the ultimate winning short will be offered both at AdultSwim.com, the network’s corresponding entertainment Web site, and via Adult Swim’s video on demand service.
Honda has also signed up to be one of the first sponsors of GameTap, Turner’s broadband entertainment network that combines video games with original programming in a unique branded environment. The Civic brand will be integrated into a number of GameTap-related media properties within the user interface, including sponsorship of leaderboards and GameTap’s “Info Fairy” which offers gameplaying tips for the hundreds of games currently available on the service.