Honda is using a flock of sheep to sing the praises of the automaker’s all-new 2017 Alabama-made Ridgeline pickup in a 60-second commercial during Sunday’s Super Bowl 50.
Honda this week offered a sneak peak of its “A New Truck to Love” spot featuring a talking dog and sheep singing the classic Queen tune “Somebody to Love.” The Ridgeline commercial will air during the third quarter of the Super Bowl to audience expected to number around 100 million.
“With so many truck buyers passionate about football, the big game is the perfect setting to introduce the all-new Ridgeline, and the distinctive features that make it the ultimate tailgating vehicle,” said Jeff Conrad, senior vice president and general manager of the Honda Automobile Division.
The Super Bowl commercial depicts how a rancher might use one of the redesigned Ridgeline’s available features — the industry’s very first factory truck-bed audio system, enabling music to play outside the truck.
Honda unveiled the second-generation Ridgeline at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit last month, where it also announced plans for the Super Bowl spot.
The new Ridgeline will soon enter production at Honda’s $2.2 billion assembly plant in Alabama, which also assembles the Odyssey minivan, the Pilot SUV and the Acura MDX luxury sport utility. The Lincoln facility produced just over 100,000 first-generation Ridgelines before production was paused in 2014 for the redesign.
The Alabama plant, which launched production in 2001, has built more than 3.5 million vehicles and has an annual economic impact estimated at $6.8 billion.
The Alabama-made Ridgeline Super Bowl 50 spot was directed by Brian Buckley, who has been involved in more than 40 other commercials for the NFL’s big game.
