When I started karting as a kid, my dad often told me that the “school of racing” would teach me many valuable principles—even if I never found great success as a racing driver. He’d endured a lengthy and successful endurance racing career, so he knew what he was talking about. In fact, he’d constantly say that these life skills, per se, were his biggest motivation to support my expensive hobby—and not so much the belief that one day I’d make it big time. As a stupid teenager, his comments always annoyed me, of course.
Twenty-plus years later, I get it, and Honda‘s newest ad featuring Formula 1 champions Ayrton Senna and Max Verstappen—and narrated by John Cena—is a great reminder of his message. The spot focuses on the challenging spirit of racing, and the idea that success is often the result of struggles and failures. Man, it hit me deep. Watching the 60-second ad is like listening to my dad lecture me all over again about always giving my best, about constant strategizing, reinventing myself, and channeling difficulty and loss as fuel for improvement.
I know you didn’t come here to hear me rant about my feelings—especially on a Friday. Sorry! But much like that phenomenal Nissan Super Bowl ad from almost 10 years ago, this piece also conveys that despite car racing being all about the machines, it’s really all about the humans who tame them, as well as their personal and professional journies.
The engaging speech is delivered by Cena in a clever reverse poem format that’s super fitting for this kind of messaging. It emphasizes once more that “what begins as a disheartening story about failure and giving up reverses course to showcase how personal setbacks can serve as the greatest teacher and catalyst to achieve big dreams,” in the automaker’s words. To drive the point home, several clips of Senna and Verstappen crashing their F1 cars are shown. Honda Ridgeline Baja racer Jeff Proctor and HRC rider Jett Lawrence are also featured enduring tough moments in their respective machines.
A couple of unlikely products are also sprinkled in, such as the cool Honda eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft, as well as the Honda Prelude concept that was revealed last year. The Prelude is shown doing track testing at what appears to be Honda’s proving grounds in northern Japan.
The beauty of the ad lies in its delivery. It’s not too long, but it’s not too short. It gets straight to the point, and it’s not overly cheesy. As I shared in my recent story about my experience with Honda’s first winning F1 car, you get the sense that it’s put together by people who get racing, but more importantly, who get the struggle of racing. It’s when you fully embrace the whole package that you can truly enjoy a victory.
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