As far as regular broadcast television commercials go, I find that there is seldom something that is not worth skipping over using my TiVo. That's why I just have to post something about the new Honda campaign in Britain, developed by ad agency Wieden & Kennedy London. It started out with four short teaser clips about skydiving that are devoid of any Honda branding and referred viewers to the blog difficultisworthdoing.com. Then they aired the first ever live commercial spot on UK's Channel 4 in which a group of skydivers successfully formed the letters H.O.N.D.A during free fall before deploying their chutes and all coming safety back down to earth. The campaign and the final jump took a year to plan, but it wasn't without risk. The BBC reports that the plane used by the skydivers in the spot above crashed and claimed the lives of its pilot and a skydiver the day after the Honda commercial was shot.

There are two principal ways advertisers are trying to create value for consumers on the web — and they must create value because, you know, consumers are in control. On the web, advertisers can provide entertainment or information. How effective is advertising as information on the web? See Google’s $15B in ad revenue — an $5.19 billion in ad revenue in Q1 2008. The technology of web search enabled advertisers to create value for consumers in a way that was never possible in analogue media.

New York - Honda has partnered with Sony Pictures Television to sponsor a series of "minisodes," comprised of 4-6 minute condensed versions of full-length episodes of vintage TV shows like "Charlie's Angels," "The Facts of Life" and "Who's the Boss," The New York Times reported. Honda will insert eight-second ads for its petite Honda Fit vehicle into the minisodes, including an on-screen billboard lasting three seconds, and a five-second video commercial. MySpace will exclusively host the videos for a period beginning next week, after which time the companies plan to expand distribution.

Washington - XM Satellite Radio, a provider of satellite radio service to more than 7.6 million subscribers, said on Tuesday that it has extended its relationship with American Honda Motor Co. through 2016. XM is the exclusive satellite radio provider for American Honda, which markets both Honda and Acura vehicles. Honda was one of XM's original partners, and introduced its first factory-installed XM vehicles in 2003. The automaker has produced more than 1.5 million cars with XM factory-installed radios to date.

Washington - XM Satellite Radio announced on Tuesday a program that will offer three months of free service to buyers of Honda Certified Used Cars with factory-installed XM radios. Honda models equipped with XM include the Accord, Civic, CR-V, Element, Odyssey, Pilot and Ridgeline. XM recently announced a similar free service offer with Acura for used cars.