Honda's upbeat press ads celebrating the return of staff to its Swindon factory has just won an award for the best national newspaper campaign of June. The campaign had featured pooems in praise of workers at the plant. The plant did close down 4 months ago because of the slump in Honda's auto sales. Honda's ad featuring the bacon rasher has been named best national press ad for June in the Awards for National Newspaper Advertising. All the five ads in the campaign have been nominated for the national ad of the year awards to be held in January.
Darren Bailes, the creative director at ad agency VCCP and an awards judge, said the Honda campaign effectively operated as "news in the form of advertising".
The temporary closure of Honda's factory saw 1,300 workers take voluntary redundancy and the remaining 3,400 agree a 3% pay cut for 10 months. Employees said they were pleased to return to work at the plant.
"The reopening could have been swept under the carpet all too easily, the shutdown being seen as a real blow to the pride of the brand," said Bailes. "This recession is something we are all in together, the workers and the manufacturers are all in the same boat."