To promote the 10th generation of the Accord, Honda gets charming in a whimsical new ad from RPA and the brand's go-to directors, Smith & Foulkes of Nexus.

The new spot opens on a plaque that reads "Better Is a Never-Ending Quest," then pans upward to a bronze figure of a bowler atop a trophy, his ball lifted and ready to go. He breaks free from his frozen pose, announcing, "There's a danger to success" and the camera then moves on to other figurines--a soccer player, a fisherman, an angel, motocross athletes--who all proceed to opine on the risks of being at the top:

"It can bring out your best, or lull you into complacency .. If you think you've done your best, aim higher. You can always be faster, or smarter, or stronger," or, "more perspicacious," says a spelling bee girl."

Entitled "Trophy City," it's a charming way to highlight the Accord's reputation and the 10th generation model's new features without the annoying bluster.

The trophy idea was a "super-relatable way to represent success, across a wide range of competitive areas," explains RPA SVP Chief of Creative Development Jason Sperling. "We've all won one of these. Some of us for the one year we played soccer to appease our parents. Some of us for years and years until we ran out of shelf space. But the most determined of us never let a win stop us from repeating next time, or doing better, or looking back."

"We've been working off this theme of striving to achieve greatness and dreaming bigger for a while now," Sperling says. The idea has played out in previous ads, including Honda's Super Bowl yearbook spot depicting celebrities like Steve Carrell, Viola Davis and Tina Fey before they were big names.

Going forward, Sperling says the campaign will use the CGI and technology used to develop the trophy characters for a hyper-targeted media campaign that will allow consumers to nominate their friends and send them customized trophy videos.

The new film is just the latest in animation pros Smith & Foulkes' portfolio of charming Honda work, which includes the Cannes Lions Grand Prix-winning "Grrr," and other unusual ads from RPA to promote the HR-V Crossover.