Filed under: Marketing/Advertising, Honda
VIDEO: Honda's singing road has no fans, paved over
Click above for view the video
To market a dinosaur exhibit at the Henry Ford museum in Dearborn Michigan, the orgnizers painted dino-tracks all over the city. It sounded like a good idea at the time, but for years after the event concluded, the annoying tracks remained. We thought that was the most short-sighted and annoying idea we'd ever seen, until this. Honda thought it was a good idea to market the Civic by grooving a quarter mile section of road in Lancaster, CA to play the William Tell Overture every time a car passes over it.
While grooving pavement to act like a phonograph is cool -- in a decidedly geeky way -- the novelty of the Lone Ranger theme song wore off after about 15 minutes. If distracting drivers on a two-lane highway isn't bad enough, pissing off the neighbors puts this marketing ploy in the Hall of Shame. Some area residents said the music sounded like a high pitched drone, while others said it kept them up at night. City officials acknowledge that the misguided marketing campaign has to end, and the melodious stretch of highway is being paved over ASAP. It appears not all of Honda's ideas are good ones. Hit the jump to view and hear the singing highway for yourself, and let us know if you would want it in your neighborhood. Thanks for the tip, Paul!
[Source: Freep]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Torrent 7:05PM (9/22/2008)
If you're in a Lexus, you can't even hear it.
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DCorbett 7:55PM (9/22/2008)
Actually, the musical road concept first came from Japan.
Joe Kenkel 9:59PM (9/22/2008)
And you were so sure too.
Idiot.
Randy 11:48PM (9/22/2008)
"and you were so sure too"
LMFAO that's awesome!
Randy 11:52PM (9/22/2008)
but wait... "pissing off the neighbors puts this marketing ploy in the Hall of Shame"
if you watch the video, there aren't any neighbors, it's a desolate area!
I got an idea. Why not make rumble strips on the sides of highways where there are lots of late late night drivers so that if someone falls asleep at the wheel and they hit the rumble it will scare the sh*t out of them in a demonic voice with "YOU ARE GOING TO DIE WAKE UP"- - - - - - - - and on the re-entry to the road "Get some rest dumb ass" in C, major!
Prime 9:02AM (9/23/2008)
DCorbett, the musical road in Japan and other countries is meant to limit speeds. It is not a marketing ploy. Speeds too high or low will cause the music to become distorted - causing annoyance intentionally.
Justin 9:14AM (9/23/2008)
Looks like Vintage is the one who's incredibly stupid.
Vintage 11:47AM (9/23/2008)
.... >sigh< I didn't mean the concept, that came out last year and shot all over the internet. I've seen this before. I meant the idea of using something this obnoxious to market a brand/vehicle.
And you know what? Say what you want but at least I'm not a freaking business major. I think I'd off myself if I was that useless.
Randy 4:16PM (9/23/2008)
So when are you going to exhibit some sort of usefulness? You might want to consider a toll free hot line at this point. I don't want to see you hurt yourself bud... Lighten up a little, you'll be happier! :)
And....I'm still laughing at "And you were so sure too" LMFAO ROFL
CBXweb 7:08PM (9/22/2008)
The Bad News Bear stays in Lancaster.
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SteveJ 7:12PM (9/22/2008)
I hope Honda is paying to get the road redone.
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Andre 7:19PM (9/22/2008)
Hmm, anyone know exactly what stretch of road that is? I want to ride over it before they pave it over since I'm in Lancaster like every other weekend..
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JD 9:11PM (9/22/2008)
Uh, it's in the video, but I'll put the road here for your convenience:
It's Westbound on Avenue K, between 60th st. and 70th St. West.
That help?
RJ 1:55AM (9/23/2008)
Next thing you know the traffic on this road goes up 10 folds in the next couple days...
B 7:22PM (9/22/2008)
Hell, that's nothing!!!
There's a bad patch of road on Anaheim street in Long beach that plays the drum intro to Phil Collins' "In the air Tonight"!
Beat THAT Honda!!!
;-)
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huis 7:50PM (9/22/2008)
There's a road in michigan that plays every drum part to every song ever written simultaneously every time you drive over it . . . er, wait, it's not just one road, it's every road here that does that.
Casper 7:24PM (9/22/2008)
I don't see any neighbors that would complain. I do see how the novelty would wear off after running over it a time or two.
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Typesbad 7:28PM (9/22/2008)
As you can see, there is not much out there, but the one significant thing this road leads to is Honda's test track. So Honda did this mostly to amuse their own employees.
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sfast 9:19PM (9/22/2008)
Huh? It does. Their Cal City test track? I don't think it would lead to it at all.
Typesbad 12:48PM (9/23/2008)
We are talking about the desert here. so while Lancaster isn't exactly next door to the facility, it is the closest town with a choice of hotels, restaurants and such.
Look here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=s&utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-bk-gm&utm_medium=ha&utm_term=google%20map
...and follow route 14 north from town.
As i said, not much there.