Sponsorships can be one of the most powerful tools in a brand’s marketing arsenal, but only when they’re done right. There is more to an effective partnership than slapping a logo onto the website and posting about it on social media. It takes thought and strategy. And one of those brands that knows how to do it right is joining us today. Jennifer Symington, Assistant Vice President of Marketing at American Honda Motor Company, Inc., discusses how Honda transforms sponsorships into meaningful cultural moments.
Editor’s note: At 1:39, Jennifer Symington is referenced as being with Honda Motor. The correct company name is American Honda Motor Company, Inc. This episode was previously recorded.
imPRessions S4 EP 3 Transcript
Kalli
Hey, Jenn.
Jenn
Hi, Kalli.
Kalli
So, Jenn, what has your favorite car been?
Jenn
My Honda Accord. I mean, I’m a city girl. I don’t really drive much, but when I was, you know, younger and living on Long Island, I had a Honda Accord for many, many years. I got it as a graduation gift and it was when I graduated high school. And it was an old car. It was a ‘97 and it had already… I graduated high school 10 years after that. So, it was amazing though. And that car lasted me like another 10 years. And it was just this like dark green Honda Accord that I drove, to college with; I would drive all over with. And it just had a special place in my heart. She always got me there safely and she was just a great car.
Kalli
It’s funny, actually, after I graduated college, I got a Honda Civic. And it really was one of the best cars. One of my favorite features on it, which they actually don’t have anymore, but it was like a side mirror camera. Now it’s much more, you know, everybody sees the cameras from everywhere and you can see your car from space, but that was the best feature because it really made people think I knew how to drive and not just that, but parallel park. I was so good at it with this car. I have had multiple Hondas since then. Most likely I’m going to buy another one. But that actually, it’s those moments of making, you know, those special times, those special moments and how brands kind of intersect with our lives that I’ve invited Jennifer Symington from American Honda Motor Company to come and talk to us today about how Honda turns sponsorships into a cultural impact.
Jenn
Well, that’s amazing. Like I said, my favorite brand. I’m not really driving these days living in a city, but if I did, if I had the money to buy any car, it would be a Honda.
Kalli
Well, awesome. Well, let’s get to it…
Macy’s on the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Pepsi and the Super Bowl. Certain brands and events just go together. That’s the power of a smart partnership. One brand that really shines when it comes to sponsorships is Honda. On today’s episode, we invite Jennifer Symington, Assistant Vice President of Marketing at the American Honda Motor Company, to explore how the automaker’s U.S. team approaches transactional marketing moments, including LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Rose Parade, to deepen trust, inspire communities, and authentically connect with diverse audiences around the globe. Jennifer, thank you so much for joining us today.
Jennifer
Thank you very much, what a great intro.
Jenn
My first car, and I’m not just saying this, my first car was a Honda Accord, 1997 Honda Accord, and by far has been my favorite brand of car. We have a Subaru now, but I absolutely love Hondas. So, I’m really excited to have you here and to really talk a lot about the brand because it’s a very reputable and recognized brand. So first to kind of kick it off, I want to talk about how Honda… it’s very innovative. It treats sponsorships like we mentioned, LA28 and the Rose Parade; it’s not just another marketing opportunity. It’s a way to really connect with people, with audiences, and reflect the brand’s values. So, can you tell us a little bit about how Honda’s philosophy shapes the way that you and your team plan and execute these activations?
Jennifer
Yeah, thanks for the question. Honda has been deeply committed to Southern California and specifically to the greater Los Angeles area and to shaping cultural moments here in this community. And you’ve given some great examples like the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl. We have our name on a wonderful sports arena called the Honda Center, a little south of here. We have a long partnership with the Aquarium of the Pacific, with the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, and probably a good moment to say that American Honda covers 2 brands, Honda and Acura. And we have a long-standing relationship with Disneyland Park. So, when we think about the sponsorships and the way we bring that to life, we think about providing resources and engagement opportunities that really enrich community traditions for the place where we are. And then taking that one step farther, we have a new founding partnership with LA28, which is the Olympics and Team USA. That’s an incredible elevation of our local pride as the Olympics return to the U.S. and to Southern California, mostly, and some other national opportunities. But that gives us a real opportunity to highlight Honda’s tangible contributions to Los Angeles and our global recognition related to that.
Kalli
That’s amazing. And I know we’ve mentioned a few really exciting partnerships so far, but as Honda has been recognized for its long-standing partnership with the NHL; it’s been almost 2 decades, I think. So, can you share a little bit behind Honda’s collaboration with USA Hockey? Like, you know, how did it, how did it begin and, you know, why this partnership? Why does it resonate so naturally with Honda’s audience?
Jennifer
Yeah, and it’s a great tie into our Olympic effort as well. So, Honda is celebrating 19 years as an official vehicle partner, automotive partner of the National Hockey League in the United States, and more than a decade as the title sponsor of the NHL All-Star game. So why? Why collaborate with the NHL? Well, it allows our Honda brand to engage with passionate hockey fans. And we were talking in our prep, we’re all Northeasterners so, I grew up playing hockey on the pond across the street.
Jenn
Go Rangers!
Jennifer
Okay, okay! The Honda Center is home to the Anaheim Ducks. So go USA Hockey, go NHL. We know that hockey fans bring passion throughout the season and particularly during the league’s really big moments like the All-Star Game and part of our goal there is to create unforgettable fan experiences. There’s real synergy between NHL hockey fans and Honda customers. Our Honda customers are really highly represented among that fan base. So our partnership gives us the chance to introduce the brand to younger hockey fans and keep the brand in mind with affluent and mature consumers in the automotive space and builds connections with our existing customers who share both passions. So with that NHL hockey relationship in mind, we had an incredible opportunity this year to participate with Team USA Hockey tied into our Olympic sponsorship, so we are the exclusive automotive partner and official vehicle of USA Hockey. And that means the USA men’s and women’s national teams, the sled hockey teams, and that group is about to kick off their competition this Friday, so February, in the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic Games. So that all ties together in some really thrilling ways. And for those who watched perhaps Honda’s participation in the Rose Parade recently at the beginning of the year, one of the things we were able to feature on our float was a hockey player, a Team USA hockey player. So being able to tie together some of our core sponsorships, engagements, and fan and customer interests across these diverse things that we participate in is really… we love the opportunity to be able to do that and to bring that tie in to our fans and our customers.
Jenn
I love it too, because it’s very unique. Most people wouldn’t probably associate Team USA with a Honda partnership, but it works. And I think that’s just a really cool concept. So, can you tell us a little bit about how it came to life, kind of from who thought of the idea, how was the execution of that? Because it really is a great way that Honda is reaching out and connecting with its US audiences. I mean, everybody, you know, listening, it’s Honda’s an international company. It’s not here based in the US. So, I’d love to know a little bit more about the background of that and how that really came to life for you.
Jennifer
Yeah, sure. American Honda is the U.S. arm of Honda, the global company that you mentioned. And our partnership with LA28 and Team USA is a domestic partnership, so we’re U.S. focused when it comes to that. But the genesis, the origin of this opportunity is we knew that the Olympics were coming specifically to Los Angeles for the third time in the history of the Olympics. The Summer Games will be held here in LA. We have some historic venues that we’ll be hosting for multiple games. And we are here. American Honda is domiciled here in Southern California. The company began its US presence in Los Angeles. So that opportunity to tie Honda’s presence and longtime community engagement here to the Olympics coming to town was sort of an undeniable opportunity. The other thing we look to there is the opportunity to bring that partnership and that unique platform together to showcase the true meaning of a very important phrase to Honda, which is the Power of Dreams. We’ve got this storytelling and marketing opportunity to bring fans closer to the incredibly inspiring journeys of the Olympic and Paralympic athletes. The power of dreams couldn’t be more clearly represented among those athletes and in that effort. So, our campaign is focused there and focused on the opportunity to deploy, to really bring to life a challenging spirit, untapped potential, and a sense of purpose in the quest for a dream.
Kalli
That’s amazing. It actually leads me right into my next question. Honda really does blend the innovation and the storytelling. You know, there’s stories like the bobsled wind tunnel… How do you balance the tech and the human stories? Like, is there a time when innovation helped tell a human story in a memorable way?
Jennifer
Yeah, I think there’s some really great examples. You mentioned USA Bombsled Skeleton and the Honda wind tunnel. So let me just give a little more information on both of those things. As we engaged as founding partner with LA28 and with the Olympics overall, we, I mentioned, signed on with Team USA Hockey, but we have also engaged with Team USA Bobsled Skeleton as their official automotive and premier technology partner. So, what does that mean? Honda has an incredible facility in Ohio called the Honda Automotive Labs of Ohio (HALO). And it is possibly the most sophisticated wind tunnel on the planet. It is a relatively new facility for us, and we use it for our own product testing and to support the testing of our race cars. The bobsled and skeleton team reached out to us through a racing connection with an interest in being able to see if we could bring technology and engineering support to their team in their quest toward these Olympic Games. So, we talked with them, we talked with the HALO team, and we saw a perfect opportunity to bring the passion and technology and dreams of our Honda engineers into partnership with the athletes and coaches and the bobsled and skeleton team. We’ve had the athletes and coaches in the wind tunnel a few different times testing the sleds, testing the athletes and the positioning of their bodies in their equipment in the bobsleds and on the skeleton sleds. So that really specific combination of our ability to bring an authentic level of support to the athletes of those teams and to bring our engineering prowess to that and then bring that Olympic excitement and the Olympic dream into the office with our engineers and technicians and that team. It’s just the ultimate expression of why we wanted to get engaged with the Olympics to begin with and then with bobsled skeleton in particular.
Jenn
That’s so cool. I love all of these different unique partnerships and activations and initiatives that you are moving forward with. And you touched a little bit on it already, but I wanted to ask about Rose Parade. And that’s an event that’s near and dear to our hearts. We work that event every year at our agency, so I want to talk a little bit about just the history with Rose Parade. And this past year, was there a specific moment where you really feel that this, the marketing and the messaging that you’re trying to get out there really resonated with people? What was your overall perception of how everything went this year for Honda?
Jennifer
Honda’s relationship with the Tournament of Roses goes back almost 65 years. So, this is a long and rich tradition for Honda and here in our Southern California community. The Rose Parade theme for 2026 was The Magic in Teamwork. So With that in mind, knowing every year that we have an opportunity to design a float and bring our storytelling to that national television audience and to build community pride here for the folks that are able to attend in person, we were able to design and bring to life a float that really embodied the Rose Parade theme, The Magic in Teamwork, with our slogan, The Power of Dreams. So, our float was called The Power of Teams. And there were multiple elements to the design of that. We had human figures, we had a race car driver, we had a Honda engineer, and we had a hockey athlete, as I mentioned. We built an incredible live animated racetrack around the float and had three vehicles that were ready to go and race around that track, moving down the parade route. And then the base of the float was appropriately covered in roses, thousands and thousands of roses, because the other opportunity that our float has as we are presenting sponsors of the parade is we’re the backdrop to the opening number. So, when all of America tunes in and there’s that dynamic song and dance number at the beginning of the parade, the Honda float is there to serve as the stage in the backdrop. So, we went in so excited about the theme, our opportunity to tie in Olympics and racing to bring all of this beauty. And if you watched the parade this year, you may have noticed that it poured down rain.
Jenn
Oh, yes.
Jennifer
Buckets of rain, drought-ending rain.
Jenn
Yep. Our poor team was out there in it, completely immersed in it. So, yep. Totally understand.
Jennifer
Everybody was wet to their skin. So, it’s a good news/bad news story for the float this year. We were not able to run the animated vehicles around the track. We had to let that go. So, we positioned them in a still format and carried on. The roses, however, really enjoyed the cool rain, the cool weather and the wet rain. So, the roses were absolutely beautiful. But when we talk about the power of teams, Everybody that was on the ground supporting the parade over those few days in the run up to and the day of the parade rallied together to make sure that float looked beautiful, that the brand elements stayed intact, that we were able to find the silver lining and everything that we could and really bring that float to the public, ensure that the folks on the parade route had a wonderful view and enjoyed what they saw. and still bring our story and our passion to this really marquee annual event. So apparently once every 20 years, it rains on the parade. This was that year. But the power of teams helped us ensure that we had a success.
Kalli
I love this story. And like Jenn said, we, you know, we’re tuning in as our colleagues were there. So, seeing everything live and hoping, you know, wishing that they all knew how to swim because that was the amount of rain that we saw. But you know what? It really goes to show that you cannot have a rainbow unless it rains. We’ve talked a lot about teams. Obviously, you partner across many sports, hockey, Winter Olympics, and there’s a lot more. I know I’ve seen Honda sponsor Mets games when I’ve gone. So how do you keep a consistent brand story? How do these sponsorships build trust with fans and customers?
Jennifer
The idea of a sponsorship can give us an opportunity to place a logo or create an affiliation between our brand and another. But every partnership that we have is designed with clear objectives in mind that serve our Honda and our Acura brand needs and focus really deeply on strengthening relationships with our current consumers, building authentic connections with new audiences, and creating unforgettable experiences. We also focus on the opportunity to give back in our communities where our associates live and work. And we have a wide presence across the U.S. so, and we have, it’s important to say the Honda and Acura dealers that sell our products are all across the country so we have that very common mission. Our partnership with Team USA really exemplifies our ability to bring the Power of Dreams story out. We’ve got the NHL collaboration, helps us focus on light trucks and particular interests of that audience. We have youth marketing initiatives. We participate with Honda Stage and with Twitch because we know gaming is a particular interest to many of our consumers. So all of that is there, but I’d love to tell you another story about something that our brand did that is so… it’s so small, but it’s so important to what we do and what we believe in. A couple of years back, one of the members of our team was struck with an idea. And what was born out of that is something that we call Project Courage. So, what is that? 30 volunteers here at Honda set out to build a tiny little car. It’s meant for use by a child. Specifically, a child who’s in a hospital. SSo,kids who are in medical care in a hospital are not having the best days of their life. And one of the things we were interested in being able to give them, and this ties in with our partnership with Disney, where so many little kids get in the Autopia ride, Autopia powered by Honda, and get to drive a little race car around a track. These little kids in the hospital get to sit in a vehicle that we call Shogo, and they can drive themselves from place to place in the hospital, often from their room to the place where they’re going to have a test or have an examination. So being able to put a little kid into that car and give them the power and the authority to drive themselves down the hallway safely in a tiny little Honda car is so meaningful. It’s meaningful to them, but it’s meaningful to us. We have a short documentary that’s available. And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen it. I’ve never made it through without a tear in my eye, what it means to the kids, it means to the families, and what it meant to our team to innovate on that small project that influences, you know, maybe a couple of hundred kids a year. There are 12 of these little Shogo cars bringing comfort and that driving experience to children in hospitals across the US and Japan, and we continue to work to expand that program. We have the big, we have the Rose Parade, and we have the Olympics, and we have the small.
Jenn
That’s wonderful. And that’s exactly what brands should be doing, kind of hitting marks from all different angles, like you said, the big, the small, the medium. And a lot of our listeners on the show are starting in their careers, whether, you know, PR or marketing. And all of these great partnerships that you’ve mentioned and collaborations with these wonderful brands, can you… I mean, it sounds fun, right? Anybody listening to this is like, “This must be the best job ever. This sounds like a party. This is a great time.” And I’m sure in some cases it is. There are a lot of wonderful things that come from it and it is very fulfilling and enjoyable, but there’s a lot of work that goes into it. This looks great on paper, but anybody who’s worked in big collaborations before can attest that it’s not always easy. So, for those, you know, budding career PR people that are listening, can you talk a little bit about the behind the scenes into some of these big partnerships that they might not expect really? What goes into it that someone might not realize early on in their career that, “Oh, this is actually what I have to do to make something like this happen,”?
Jennifer
Yeah, I got a big laugh a couple of months ago by saying I’ve done more math in the last year and a half of marketing than I did in 25 years at the Honda Financial Services Organization.
Jenn
Oh no, I’m out!
Jennifer
Don’t fall out! I was told there’d be no math… One of the things I think is that if someone is really early in their career and they’re thinking about this kind of work, it’s important to know and to think about how we quantify the value of the work that we do. No one’s budget is unlimited. No one’s ever will be. So, understanding the brand. We work deeply to understand Honda, our products, our market needs and our consumers. We do the same thing with Acura. And then we think about where we have opportunities in the community and in the marketplace to bring our marketing energy and our marketing budget to life. So, thinking about that from an analytical perspective and bringing intelligence and empathy and goals to that process. It’s a critical skill. I believe it’s a critical skill in marketing. It’s one that I continue to work to develop in myself and we work on collectively in our team. But there’s another thing I’ll say about these big, big partnerships and behind the scenes. Behind the scenes are people. At the NHL, at the Tournament of Roses, at LA 28, there’s people that we work with. We pick up the phone or we get on a video call or send emails back and forth. Those people in those organizations have their goals and their needs and their jobs and efforts, and so do we. So, finding those common values, the shared goals, and focusing on the power that we have as a team together and delivering the power of dreams in the marketplace is the most important thing about managing those big partnerships.
Kalli
I actually really love both of those pieces of insight. I mean, obviously, a little bit different than just going into marketing and public relations, like it is about the people and realizing that there is a very human element to all of these things, especially behind the scenes and that it’s people that are making these campaigns and making these events and everything work. But I also really appreciate it because I was one of those kids that, like, if you told me that there was going to be math involved, I’d be like, next.
Jenn
Same. Absolutely not.
Kalli
But what, the way that you present it, like we do have, there’s a level of math, but it’s not like we’re not… I still haven’t used the Pythagorean theorem, but you know, it is that analytical side of like how you’re thinking about something, how you’re measuring something that really is the key to showing how important the work that we’re doing is and helping, you know, helping make businesses decisions. I’m sure there are a lot of things that you look at as Honda chooses how their sponsorship and communications energy is going to be dedicated to make sure that you’re staying relevant and meaningful. How do you choose those things? What are the things you think about in that situation?
Jennifer
The idea of staying attentive to that and keeping that analytical mindset in play is important. We continue to evolve our partnerships. We want to make sure that we stay relevant and that those partnerships deliver meaningful impact. So, an example, Honda has been immersed in the music world for, you know, about 20 years. People love music. There are very few interests that evoke as much passion and emotion as music. And our music programming really gives us a way to connect with younger buyers in authentic and relevant ways. But that music relationship has changed over time, like our vehicles have changed over time. So, Honda Civic as a model continues to grow and develop. And our music programming that has targeted often that Honda Civic buyer has changed the way we approach the programming and the partnerships. So, what does that look like recently? We’ve been focusing on spotlighting rising artists and really sharing their quest and their journey to success through Honda Stage digital content, because we know that digital is a huge way people are consuming their music content right now. So that’s one example. And then as we look ahead to LA28, continuing to tie our belief in the power of dreams into the campaign that we have right now. It’s out there and I hope people are taking a look at it because we talk the tagline of that commercial is “This is The Power of Dreams.” We’re looking at our own internal engineers and our dreams. We look at the athletes and their dreams and celebrate that power of dreams. So overall, our values focus us, our customer focus, guides us and helps us make those choices to stay, as you asked, relevant and meaningful in the decisions that we make.
Jenn
That’s so well said. And this whole conversation has just been really important and informative. And I’m curious, as we kind of get to the end of this conversation, and we’ve talked a lot about brand partnerships and its importance, for somebody listening, for brands that want to go beyond the basic sponsorship, and they really want to form a valuable partnership. I mean, for instance, you said Honda has been part of the Rose Parade for 65 years, right? That’s no longer just an event we do. That is a real established partnership in the industry, in business, which is something that, you know, most brands really want to get. So how does one do that? How does the brand turn events into a mission-driven platform like Honda has done for many years?
Jennifer
I think part of the answer is in your question, which is know the mission. So, at Honda, we work to know who we are, what our brands are, what we stand for, and what our values are. We think about our current customers, our future customers, and our opportunity to enhance their lives and bring great products into what they do. And then we work to build our story and experiences that serve those two guiding elements. So, when we do that, when we do that at our best, we are forming valuable partnerships, and we really are able to bring them to life, mission-driven to meet our objectives and win all the way around that cycle with our partner in reference to our brand and particularly for our consumers. They’re why we do what we do. Jenn, I think it was you who opened up by saying that your Accord was one of your favorite cars ever and there’s nothing that brings me greater joy.
Jenn
Not just saying it.
Jennifer
Yeah, I appreciate that. Come on back. We’d love to have you back.
Jenn
Oh my God. And that car lasted me until, I mean, over 20 years. I mean, it was the most low maintenance car. It got through everything. It drove well. And I’m not just saying that, like, because it really, Honda is my favorite. It’s such a wonderful product in itself. And then just hearing all the wonderful things that your brand is doing really just adds, adds to that. It really does.
Kalli
Yeah, I mean, I know, I actually have, I’m a longtime Honda owner or leaser. It’s funny when you mention the music thing, because I remember it was like 2010, 2012, like somewhere around there when I got my first Honda, because, and I’m not even kidding you, it’s because I went to the concert, like the Linkin Park concert, and they liked… it was sponsored by Honda. And I was like, I needed a car. I was like, I’m going to go look at Honda. And that was when I got my, I got a Civic. And then, later down the road when I had kids and needed more space, I had a CRV and it was one of the best cars. And now my husband and I are looking for a new car. And again, you know, Honda is definitely in the mix of what we’re looking for because they’re just, they’re great, they’re reliable. And there’s a different one for every phase of life. But really, though, these partnerships really do span across decades, across so many different industries to really make an impact on what people need at the time when they are looking for something, for a way to get to go through their journey. So, Jennifer, really thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us today about all the thoughtfulness and like the effort that go into building meaningful sponsorship relationships.
To our listeners, thank you again for tuning in. Be sure to send us a line at impressions@pollackgroup.com and let us know if there’s a potential guest that you’d love to hear on the show. Until next time.
