1 chance, 50 people

 
TV commercial The London advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy realized the first live commercial in Great Britain on behalf of Honda. 
What the Honda team from Wieden + Kennedy (WK), London, put together for June 1, 2008 was probably a premiere in many respects, or rather, it was a first: "Jump" was the first TV commercial to be broadcast live on the British station Channel 4. And what was shown was no less spectacular: during the free fall from lofty heights, female skydivers and their colleagues linked up to form the sequence of letters H, O, N, D and A. Apart from that, there was no indication of the client. Every conceivable scenario was put down on paper. Every eventuality was considered, nothing was left to chance. Just like in a gigantic ballet, every movement had to be choreographed and calculated so that it would work when the time came to get down to business.
"We have put together a team of the best skydivers in the world," reveals BJ Worth, coordinator for stunts in the air, on the blog www.difficultisworthdoing.typepad.com. Most of them have well over 10,000 jumps behind them and appreciate the challenge of shooting for the new Honda Accord. "It wasn't easy for Honda to decide what should and shouldn't be in the new model," explains Tony Davidson, Creative Director at Wieden + Kennedy. "In a way, this tension is part of Honda's DNA." And this was to be reflected in the complex shoot.
Meticulous preparations "If you had to summarize the Honda engineers' daily bread in one sentence, it would be 'difficult is worth doing'," says Kim Papworth, CD at WK. For the protagonists of the spot, this meant practicing so-called "dirt dives" based on BJ Worth's sketches. The formations were first rehearsed dancing on the floor and then lying on skateboards so that the various twists and turns could be performed blind.
"We had one chance, two planes and fifty people jumping," recalls Worth. The various formations were followed by seven cameras, one of which was in a helicopter, while Tom Sanders wore another on his helmet: "It's very heavy. It's particularly tricky when getting out of the plane and later when landing. There are only a few people who do this, and there's a reason for that."
In addition to the live broadcast spot from Spain, there is also a polished version of the TV commercial, in which not the name of Honda, but a steering wheel, a spring spiral and a rear camera were constructed by 50 jumpers. This extraordinary performance is followed by a gentleman who roars up in a sleek Honda Accord and says laconically at the end: "What's next?" Yes, what's next?
The Honda "Jump" commercial and more information on the Internet at www.difficultisworthdoing.typepad.com.
Marc Bodmer