With Honda’s July 4th sales event coming, we enlisted our Holiday Hipster icons to spread the news.  You may remember Tommy J and Sam from last year’s July 4th Honda spot, where they were hanging in a coffee shop, surf’n the web, and just chillin.

Honda Hipsters

Well, this year, our idea was to send Uncle Sam and Thomas Jefferson surfing for real, showing off how epic Honda’s are for the great outdoors, and hype the deals at the July 4 Honda Sales Event. To make this spot work, we wanted to make the cars look like a million dollars even though the comedy is fairly cheap.  Check out how ridiculously hot the CR-V looks with a surfboard on its rack.  And marvel how a surfboard can fit in the back of a fuel-efficient sporty Fit and stylish Civic.

surfin pres

Check out the :60 extended version here.

To get the perfect look for the cars and TV spot, we headed out to the Oregon coast, a couple hours outside of Portland, where our actors, JJ Johnston and Dallas Bryant, reside.

Oregon, the beautiful

We also enlisted the talents of DP extraordinaire Kevin Emmons.  Kevin’s eye and a rare 2 days of incredible weather (thanks David) made for a luscious look. And as promised, the comedy was plenty cheap.

Three cars 4 Honda

See the :10 shortened cut here.

Now the twist on this story created a story of its own.  The punch line of this spot is that as TJ steps from the car bragging about his spectacular 44 mpg, he reveals a bathing suit that is… well as Uncle Sam so delicately put it, “Tight.”

To find just the right suit that everybody felt walked the line between funny and “awkward” (as my 12 year old put it) we had to scour the streets of San Francisco from the Castro to the Haight.  Here’s the short list, so to speak.

Option #1: The Hugo Boss

Option 1

Option #2: The Star Spangled Spanx

Stars

Option #3: The Red Ones

Option #2

Option #4: The Confident SailorOption #3

And the winner is…..

The winner

Boom! The Star Spangled spankies.

Thanks to all the merchants who were so enthusiastically helpful. Sorry I could not try these on for you or buy the matching hats.

And special thanks to David Pippenger, executive producer, for pulling surfers out of your hat and keeping the Pelican moving.

Post credits to Rough House editorial for edit, color and graphics. Great job fellas.

Music props to the Swamis, the legendary SF surf band and tiki carvers featuring Eric Rindal, Lane Murchinson, Peter Smith, John Benson, and Ward Evans.

Agency Credits:

cw: Bob Dorfman

ad: Corey Stolberg

CCO/cw: Brian Bacino

Account Mgmt/Producer: Dan Nilsen

Senior AE: Whitney Randolph

AE: Gloria Chase

Prez: Jack Boand

Production Credits:

Director: Brian Bacino

DP: Kevin Emmons

EP: David Pippenger

Editors: Dan Hayes and Michael Pickman-Thoon

Graphics design and animation: Eric Stafford

Producer: Todd Lindo

Colorists: Roger Krakow and Gary Coates

Compressionist: Elijiah Pahati