Honda plays up the creativity of its engineers in a spot that tops our weekly Most Engaging Auto Ads ranking, powered for WardsAuto by iSpot.tv.
In a CGI-animated sequence, a Honda engineer’s head opens up and out drives a ʼ16 Honda Civic that proceeds to speed through a constantly morphing racetrack that winds through various vivid landscapes. “Walking on a Dream,” the 2008 hit by Australian band Empire of the Sun, serves as the soundtrack and nicely sets up a tagline: “Direct from our imagination.”
The spot garnered an impressive 49.2% digital share-of-voice rating among all automotive ads, pulling far out ahead of the No.2 finisher, a Volkswagen Passat ad with a 10.18% rating. The 1976 KISS classic “Beth” serves as the soundtrack for a series of scenes of a dad bonding with his two young sons.
Rounding out the chart: a Mazda CX-5 spot depicting a snowy marriage proposal, a Spanish-language Volkswagen ad that shows off a Passat safety feature and an exhilarating Toyota Tacoma spot that urges consumers to “Play now.”
Overall, automakers spent an estimated $118.4 million on TV ads for the week through Sunday. NBC, ABC and CBS, in that order, drew the most automotive ad dollars. NFL football was the most popular choice for the week’s automotive advertisers, with an estimated $51.15 million spent among the various games.
iSpot.tv tracks TV ads in real-time and allows customers to monitor social actions, search activity and online video views associated with TV spots across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, Bing and Yahoo!.
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1. 2016 Honda Civic TV Spot, 'The Dreamer' Song by Empire of the Sun
49.20% Digital Share of Voice, 2.2M Earned Online Views
2. 2016 Volkswagen Passat TV Spot, 'Dad, Stop!' Song by KISS
10.18% Digital Share of Voice, 14k Earned Online Views
3. 2016 Mazda CX-5 TV Spot, 'The Proposal: Driving Matters'
6.90% Digital Share of Voice, 335k Earned Online Views
4. Volkswagen TV Spot, 'Las advertencias de Mamá'
2.21% Digital Share of Voice, 954 Earned Online Views
5. Toyota Tacoma TV Spot, 'Blow Off Steam'
2.15% Digital Share of Voice, 7k Earned Online Views
