After a lengthy teaser campaign in which Jell-O played a prominent role, Honda Canada is introducing a new sport-utility vehicle that it hopes will add another dimension to this growing automotive segment.

Revealing the car over two executions under the headline ‘Break out of the mould,’ national billboard, newspaper and magazine ads showcased Honda’s new cr-v, a small, four-cylinder, four-wheel drive sport-utility vehicle that ‘rides like a car,’ according to Jim Miller, Honda Canada’s senior vice-president of sales and marketing.

The other ads in the teaser campaign showed a sports drink bottle under the headline, ‘Thirsty for activity?’

The ads, created by Ambrose Carr Linton Carroll of Toronto, broke in September with the expectation that the vehicle would be shipped to Canada by the new year. In fact, Miller says the cr-v will be available only in limited supply at the end of this month.

But Honda has used the delay as a marketing tactic, initiating a direct mail special offer to those who called the 1-800 number displayed at the bottom of the ads. ‘We owed those people that showed a commitment,’ says Miller.

Initially, the 4,500 or so callers received cr-v brochures, he says. When the shipments of the vehicles were delayed, Honda sent the same people an offer for $300 worth of their choice of accessories, such as a roof rack or cd player.

And the company has tried to pump up interest in the new vehicle – as well as build its mailing list – in other ways. Visitors to the Honda Web site, for example, will find the cr-v photos veiled. Only by filling in a personal information form will a browser be given the password that allows him or her to sneak a peek.

In addition to the print ads, which appeared in The Globe and Mail, Time (Canada) and Maclean’s, there will be a 60-sec. u.s. spot to air during the SuperBowl in January, says Miller.

The spot, still on storyboards, will focus on the various lifestyles of the prospective cr-v driver.

The cr-v has already proven popular in Japan, says Miller, adding that sales there have been much higher than anticipated.

Initially, the company had forecast sales of 30,000 in its first year, he says. Instead, Honda’s been selling nearly one-third of that – some 9,000 vehicles – each month since its introduction several months ago, says Miller. ‘It just seems to have caught the imagination.’

Miller says that 500 cr-vs have been pre-sold across Canada. That is, 500 people have offered a deposit on the understanding that, if all expectations are met, they will buy the first vehicles when they arrive.

Honda first forayed into the sport-utility market three years ago with its Odyssey, which was supposed to appeal to drivers because it was a ‘van with car attributes,’ according to Miller. For example, the Odyssey has four traditional (non-sliding) doors and a rear seat that folds flat (whereas many sport-utilities offer removable rear seats only).

However, what every car maker dreams of tapping into is the next Jeep Cherokee – a vehicle with prestige but that, priced at $27,180, is still considered accessible. So far, that goal has remained elusive for Honda, but only because the Japanese manufacturer traditionally courts another market, says Miller.

‘Everybody sets out with great intent to get that [niche],’ he says. However, he says that Honda enjoys its own reputation – as a maker of quality, reliable family cars such as its Accord and Civic.

The cr-v, at $26,800, has the same capacity as the Cherokee but the on-road feel of a car ‘with power-everything,’ says Miller.

The comparison to a car pits the cr-v against Toyota’s RAV-4, a vehicle that proved popular with auto critics and enthusiasts alike when it was first introduced last year because it drove like a car and was easier to enter than most sport-utilities.

However, the RAV-4 is a smaller vehicle than the cr-v with slightly less power, according to Miller. It’s also available in a two-cylinder, two-wheel-drive version – whereas the cr-v, in keeping with its more upscale image, isn’t, he says.

‘Ours is strictly four-by-four.’ This makes it a little less noisy than its competition, he says.

As the popularity of sport-utility vehicles grows, so do Honda’s expectations with its newest entry, says Miller. ‘Our numbers get a little more aggressive.’