With its panoramic shots on a coastal highway and epic deep-voiced narrator, you’d think you were watching an ad for the newest Audi, but no- this ad is for a 1996 Honda Accord. When the fiancé of filmmaker Max Lanman needed to sell her car, he decided to help out and make a cute commercial. He never thought that it would get 3.8 million views.
“You don’t need things; you’re happy with who you are,” says the voiceover, as you watch Max’s fiancé start the car, push in her cassette adaptor, pet her Persian cat, and pour coffee from a coffeemaker strapped in the passenger seat.
The even crazier part? Because of the viral video, the eBay auction for the car skyrocketed to $150,000 from the starting bid of $499. It was so high, in fact, that eBay accidently cancelled the auction over fraud concerns. After starting over, the highest bid is now a more reasonable $3200 at the writing of this article.
Lanman’s video proves that with good advertising, you can sell anything- even a 1996 Honda Accord. All you need is creativity, not thousands of dollars.