Corporate Branding earns you £

Creative Review's annual peer review is complete, and Honda's has been voted the best by its advertising peers. Honda built its campaign, not around product attributes, or trite brand reflections, but on the culture of the organisation. Wieden & Kennedy built a 'book of dreams', a vision of how to bring to life the 'found' values of the organisation: imagination, passion, innovation, optimism, plain-speaking and honesty. If youre reading this in the UK you'll know the ads that resulted. They led with 'What if OK is not OK' and were wonderfully supported with poster ads which sought, and still seek to convey the ambition of the company - to find practical, elegant solutions to tommorow's problems. Only later did Honda start to do product ads, but few were recognisable as such. The famous 'cog' for the Accord, and 'Everyday' for the civic, a stunningly shot piece about objects that make our lives easier were all about the spirit of the brand. The product benefit was merely implied. All ads leant heavily on the dreaming and dream-like philosophy. Critically, too, they all respected their audience. But has focusing on the corporate brand actually worked for Honda? You bet. Cars on order up from 5,000 to 14,000 in a year. Spontanous awareness up from 12% to 30%...AND... Honda has now risen to number 11 in the list of great companies to work for. Proof that aligning corporate values and product values into line delivers multi-stakeholder benefits.