How to break a Honda: Howatson puts mower through extreme tests

March 16, 2026 9:20

Impending doom: The lawnmower is suspended from a crane above spikes

Honda has dropped a lawnmower from a crane in a new campaign by Howatson and Company, in a bid to demonstrate the brand’s durability credentials to near-absurd lengths.

The “How to break a Honda” campaign shows the lawnmower put to a series of extreme tests, from being pulled by four opposing winches to being drowned in concrete, with the machine stubbornly refusing to quit each time.

The campaign marks the Japanese brand’s first under its revamped agency roster, which sees Howatson overseeing creative for lawn and garden products, Special Group handling automotive creative, Zenith on media and Burson on public relations.

Honda has also appointed digital marketing agency Wired as its new social agency.

The changes were overseen by Honda Australia’s GM of brand, marketing and customer Eve Barrett, who stepped into the leadership role in August 2024.

Wide shot: The lawnmower suspended from the crane

In a press release statement, Barrett said the brand wanted to have “some fun with a very serious product truth.”

“Our customers know Honda products go the distance, so we’re taking that reliability and turning it into something distinctively memorable,” she said.

According to the release, the campaign is designed for digital platforms, using dramatic “destruction-testing” visuals intended to stop the scroll.

In the same release, Howatson’s chief creative officer Richard Shaw added: “Your garden won’t break a Honda, which is great. Unless you want an excuse to buy a new shiny one.

“In social where people are bragging about their 1987 mower still going, we gave them an idea on how their mower could finally take its last trim… and then go buy a brand new one.

“We love that our old Honda mower goes and goes. But we also love new things.”