CLOSE-UP: NEWSMAKER - SIMON THOMPSON. Honda's man pits his brand against the very best.

New Accord ad reveals the vision of Simon Thompson. Mark Sweney investigates.

Simon Thompson, Honda's marketing director, has a habit of intimidating people. It isn't something he does intentionally. It's just that he is very direct, a straight-shooter who knows what he wants from his agencies.

It is this approach, born of having complete confidence in his vision of how Honda should be advertised, that not only scares people, but has resulted in 'cog', a stunning two-minute spot breaking this Sunday, designed to showcase the Accord's quality and creativity.

'Initially, people are scared of him because he is very direct in a cut-through-the-nonsense kind of way. But once you start working with him he is very personable and easy to get on with,' Jonathan Campbell, the group account director at Honda's agency, Wieden & Kennedy London, says.

'He is very much a product of Honda and, like the company, he is quite maverick and dynamic. He acts intuitively and on his instincts but is always rational.'

He may be very much the company man now, having spent more than a decade at Honda, but Thompson started his career in the computer industry. With both his parents in the car industry, he naturally gravitated to what he calls 'the family business', however. 'I decided I should do something I love rather than just something I'm good at. Now, hopefully, I'm good at what I love,' he says.

Thompson has worked in a range of roles at Honda, at UK, European and global level, across its three divisions - cars, motorcycles and power equipment.