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19-MAR-2025 | Excerpt from Honda’s “The Big Honda” Ad

Author

Dan Bogachek
March 19, 2025

You glance at your watch.

It’s 6:28. You’ve been at it since 3.
Crap. Your hot date is at 7. Running late. Sink shower it is.
Nowhere close to done editing…

“…at least all the ideas are laid out, so there’s that. Did I miss anything? I don’t think so? Ok, but how do I make it flow? I need to get the final draft to Stacey for design asap, team cutoff is at noon Thursday…”

You’ve spent dinner completely distracted. Your date just took off. You go home exhausted, plod to your desk, and flip open the laptop.

Or… what if:

5:41 — you’re out of the shower and lip-syncing.
6:17 — dressed to the nines and zenned out.
7:03 — the sunset glints off your aviators as you smile hello.
8:36 — it actually feels like you’re hitting it off. Not just hot, funny to boot.
Next morning, 9:27 — final draft ready in your inbox.
10:31 — Stacey messages back, “thanks, looks good!”

The difference?

Copygloss handled it. Before you left for the date, actually.

For help with editing, email Dan:
[email protected].

Excerpt from Honda’s “The Big Honda” Ad

The Big Honda.

There is big, and there is big. So you may not think the Honda Accord is a big car. After all, it’s only 162.8 inches long. And that’s a good deal shorter than the Chevrolet Monza’s 178.6 inches.

But the outside dimensions of a car don’t always tell you how big it is inside. And that’s where the Accord may surprise you.

Like all Hondas, the Accord has a transverse-mounted engine with front-wheel drive. This means the engine is tucked away up front, out of the way, and there is no drive shaft to the rear wheels. The space we save by this configuration is turned over to our passengers in the form of roominess and comfort. 🏁 

Rule of thumb says avoid passive voice.

But this is an example of good passive voice. Passive voice lets you group ideas/structure your sentences for emphasis.

  • “There is big, and there is big.” Great symmetry, and allows a bit of voice to come through.

  • “This means the engine is tucked away” — visually your mind first goes to “the engine”, then “tucked away” hits. There’s more motion on the central object, the engine, and it feels more certain than “we tucked away the engine.”

  • “There is… no drive shaft to the rear wheels.” No drive shaft to the wheels gets the bigger focus. As opposed to, “We removed the drive shaft to the rear wheels.” Uh-oh, why’s that?

  • “…is turned over to our customers” — the focus/stress landing on “customers” → “the way we do things is for the benefit of our customer.”

Food for thought.