Honda's New Insight Ad Doesn't Make Sense

Matt Posky
by Matt Posky

Honda has launched a new media campaign for the Insight, a model that stages its third reappearance for the 2019 model year. The media push frames other hybrids as ugly, boring vehicles you have to settle for in order to gain superior fuel economy. There’s a social media initiative that transforms everyday objects into something more interesting and a television spot where other vehicles mill around while covered in bubble letters that spell out “blah” or “meh,” with horns and engine noises to match.

But the whole ad seems counterintuitive. The Insight ditched its funky wheel coverings after the first generation, which was followed by the loss of the glass-back hatch. Now it’s a pretty normal looking vehicle. You might even mistake it for a miniature Honda Accord.

That’s not an insult; the Accord isn’t a bad looking vehicle, but it also blends in easily with traffic. A large part of that is due to its popularity, but it still calls into question the whole premise of the ad — which serves to portray other hybrids as mundane.

The entire point of redesigning the Insight was to produce a more normal-looking vehicle. Meanwhile, Toyota’s Prius has only grown stranger as the years progress — to its detriment.

During a drive event for the Hyundai Ioniq, I had an opportunity to swap between that model and the (plug-in) Prius Prime, and Toyota’s bizarre styling choices were never more apparent. When you hop into the Prius, you instantly notice all the quirks (and might even appreciate them). But when you’ve just spent three hours in one of its comparatively normal rivals, all of those fun little touches start to seem a little odd. It’s almost overwhelming and, while you probably won’t mind after living with those eccentricities for a while, it might be enough to scare some people away at the dealership.

The Prius family remains the established hybrid choice, even those the Honda Insight technically debuted first, and is a serviceable choice for hyper-mile enthusiasts. But Toyota’s once robust hybrid sales dwindled as gas grew cheaper and the Prius’ styling became more edgy.

However, Honda can’t make an ad that says, “We’ve split the difference between polarizing and dull!”

While we would praise the company for its openness and honesty, “Fight Mediocrity” is the catchier slogan. People want to hear that a car is special, exiting, and better than its rivals.

In this way, the ad makes sense, though the automaker claims it’s not trying to obliterate Prius sales. “[Honda] isn’t really to overtake the Prius. Prius has a lot of brand equity,” Susie Rossick, assistant vice president of Honda’s marketing team, explained to Automotive News. Instead, the Insight is supposed lure buyers that are seeking “a really great looking sedan that just happens to be a hybrid.”

The consumer base for such a vehicle might be slim. Sedan sales aren’t exactly on the upswing and the same can be said for hybrid vehicles in general. If there is another spike in gas prices, maybe that will change. But the market is currently heading away from this sort of vehicle. Perhaps Honda should have made the “blah” vehicles in its ad look dirtier, with a little more ground clearance, because it’s pickup trucks and crossovers that the Insight has to worry about most.

All told, it’s not a bad ad. It’s memorable, simple to understand, and preys upon your insecurities. These are all effective marketing tactics. It doesn’t hurt that the Insight isn’t a dud, either. But the whole thing doesn’t make sense when it’s probably one of the most normal hybrids currently available.

Matt Posky
Matt Posky

A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.

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  • Spookiness Spookiness on Jul 24, 2018

    Style-wise, this strikes a happy medium (for me) between the Civic and Accord. If it just was a liftback instead of a notchback I'd be into it, hybrid or no,

    • R Henry R Henry on Jul 24, 2018

      Funny thing is that this car uses the Civic body shell---but with different front and rear fascias. I consider this car to be much more visually coherent than Civic. This car is what Civic should have been as the volume leader, and this hybrid car should have the quirky existing Civic nose and tail.

  • TW5 TW5 on Jul 24, 2018

    Yeah, this ad campaign is bogus, and it's appears to be the work of people who are not ready to admit the hybrid game has changed. In the old days, marketing research said the only people willing to buy hybrids were the first-adopter types who wanted a vehicle the signaled eco virtue and savoir faire. CAFE 2025 has changed all of that because hybrids will be forced on everyone. That means the average Camcord Civorolla buyer needs a beige vehicle they can believe in, yet Honda is marketing the Insight as a standout vehicle. This ad only makes sense on one condition. The Insight is basically just a Civic Hybrid, but Honda didn't want to call it the Civic Hybrid, which indicates (to me) that Honda have a Civic Hybrid in the works. Since the Civic is an affordable compact family car, the hybrid system on the new Civic Hybrid will probably be a simple mild hybrid system. Therefore, Honda must differentiate the Insight from the Civic Hybrid by making the Insight noteworthy. Since the Civic Hybrid does not exist, and has not been announced to my knowledge, and since Honda doesn't want to paint their own products in a negative light, Honda marketing is taking pot shots at Prius. Still, the entire mess doesn't make much sense.

  • Lorenzo Heh. The major powers, military or economic, set up these regulators for the smaller countries - the big guys do what they want, and always have. Are the Chinese that unaware?
  • Lorenzo The original 4-Runner, by its very name, promised something different in the future. What happened?
  • Lorenzo At my age, excitement is dangerous. one thing to note: the older models being displayed are more stylish than their current versions, and the old Subaru Forester looks more utilitarian than the current version. I thought the annual model change was dead.
  • Lorenzo Well, it was never an off-roader, much less a military vehicle, so let the people with too much money play make believe.
  • EBFlex The best gift would have been a huge bonfire of all the fak mustangs in inventory and shutting down the factory that makes them.Heck, nobody would even have to risk life and limb starting the fire, just park em close together and wait for the super environmentally friendly EV fire to commence.
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