Honda’s Hybrid Campaign: AI Conversations Powered by Dailymotion

Powered by Ray, Dailymotion Advertising identified where Honda’s hybrid buyers were genuinely engaged, then activated Echo AI, a conversational format that let viewers ask questions and explore the range. The result was 9,600+ qualified conversations across two campaigns, and a discovery that Honda’s buyers were on food and culture content, not car sites.

The story, in brief: Honda set out to do more than run pre-roll for its hybrid range. Working with Dailymotion Advertising, it used Ray, Dailymotion’s audience intelligence platform, to find where its buyers were genuinely engaged, then activated Echo AI, a conversational ad format, across two successive 2025 campaigns for the ZR-V and the Jazz. The campaigns delivered 8 million impressions, reached 3.5 million people and generated more than 9,600 qualified conversations, with completion rates above benchmark on both. The most valuable outcome was an insight Honda did not expect: its most engaged future buyers were not browsing car sites, they were engaging with food, cooking and culture content.

In a fiercely competitive automotive market, Honda wanted to go beyond the classic pre-roll. The goal was not simply to broadcast a message about its hybrid range, but to start a genuine, personalised conversation with each viewer about its e:HEV models. To do it, Honda worked with Dailymotion Advertising on Echo AI, a conversational advertising format, across two campaigns running through the end of 2025: one for the ZR-V e:HEV SUV, one for the Jazz e:HEV.

Audience first, format second

The work did not begin with the format. It began with the audience, and that means Ray, Dailymotion’s audience intelligence platform. Ray analyses millions of signals each month from Dailymotion’s proprietary first-party data to build targeting that is both precise and granular. Before a single impression runs, Ray already knows the interests of the target audience, which means a campaign can find that audience where it actually spends its time, at the right moment, on the right screen, with the right message.

On that foundation, Honda activated Echo AI. An AI agent, fed with content supplied by Honda and built directly into the ad format, turned the advertising experience into a personalised dialogue. Viewers did not just watch. They asked how the hybrid powertrain works, compared trims and explored the technology, in their own words.

Strong performance across both campaigns

The ZR-V campaign ran 22 October to 16 November against a custom “New Power Generation” audience. The Jazz campaign ran 13 November to 14 December against a custom “New Status Seekers” audience. Combined, the two campaigns delivered:

• 8M impressions and 3.5M people reached
• 9,600+ qualified conversations in two months, real exchanges in which users asked questions and compared models
• Completion rates of 78% and 79%, both above benchmark
• Visibility of 87% and 85%, measured by IAS

For the ZR-V, hybrid technology and powertrain dominated the conversations at 41%, followed by trims and ranges. For the Jazz, Honda SENSING safety technology led at 35%. In both cases, the conversations themselves became a live read on what buyers actually want to know.

The discovery: Buyers live somewhere other than car sites

The natural hypothesis going in was that the most engaged prospects would be found on automotive content, on car sites, comparison tools and technical reviews. The post-campaign report told a very different story. The contexts that generated the most interaction were food, cooking and culture content.

It is a strong lesson. Honda’s future buyers do not define themselves solely by an interest in cars. They live, they browse and they engage elsewhere, and that is where a brand can reach them when they are genuinely receptive.

For Dailymotion, the finding was confirmation rather than surprise. These were not environments chosen at random. Ray’s signals pointed there, because a potential car buyer does not spend the day on automotive sites. Identifying the audience’s other interests, and meeting it where it is actually active, is exactly what Ray is built to do.

“We wanted to go beyond the classic pre-roll, to stop simply broadcasting a message and start a real conversation with the consumer. Dailymotion’s Echo AI format gave us that, a screen that could engage, explain and answer questions about our hybrid range. But the biggest takeaway was the consumer knowledge we gained. We learned things we would never have learned from a pre-roll, and that insight feeds directly into our next campaigns. It is a new, more conversational and more intelligent way of thinking about digital advertising.” — Paul Collignon, Director of Marketing, Division Automobile, Honda.

“Before we talk about format, at Dailymotion we talk about audience, and that means Ray. Ray is our agentic platform that analyses millions of signals from our proprietary data to build precise, granular targeting before a campaign even launches. On the Honda campaigns, Ray is what guided us toward food and culture content, and the results proved the point. We tend to assume a consumer is only reachable when they are looking at content directly related to the product. A car buyer does not spend the day on car sites. The real opportunity for brands is to reach the right prospects in the moments when they are genuinely receptive, wherever that is.” — Bruno Latapie, General Manager EMEA, Dailymotion Advertising.

About Dailymotion Advertising

Dailymotion Advertising is Dailymotion’s global advertising, monetization, and data business. It connects advertisers, agencies, media owners, technology companies, and data partners through premium advertising solutions, Dailymotion Exchange, video monetization technology, audience intelligence, and AI and data partnerships.

Powered by more than five billion video streams each month, its ecosystem brings together Dailymotion.com and more than 10,000 media owners and content partners. At the center of this ecosystem is RAY, Dailymotion’s proprietary AI and data intelligence platform, which transforms first-party video signals into actionable audience, content, and performance intelligence.

Combined with Dailymotion’s full-stack video technology, RAY helps partners better understand audiences, improve advertising performance, monetize content, and develop new applications of video data.

Part of CANAL+, Dailymotion Advertising operates across a global video ecosystem built around brand safety, responsible data use, transparency, and measurable business outcomes.