On the road again
| In France Ford is a challenger Brand. It represents about 5% of the French car business. Beyond sales, the challenge is also to rebuild the relationship between the brand and the consumer. Lack of modernity, of excitement. The brand lost the pop culture iconicity it used to have at the age of the Mustang. The objective was to get the Brand back on track and first by being back in people’s minds and hearts. One good opportunity: the launch of the new Ford SUV, the EcoSport. Ford wanted to illustrate its comeback through a human comeback story. The come back of 4 ex-musicians who left their band right before it became worldwide famous. The musician of Police will meet the musician of The Rolling Stones and the ones from Gossip and Archive. Since they left their world famous band, they totally disconnected from the music industry. One became an archaeologist, the other a kindergarten teacher. The last two lumberjacks and one a musical teacher for kids with communication issues. Through 8 TV episodes and webisodes, a musical producer went through the world on board of the last Ford EcoSport SUV to find them and convince them to form a new band. They had to produce a cover of the famous track “On The Road Again” and perform on stage for an exclusive concert that launched a music tour. |
| We first launched the series through a PR initiative. The original content idea: 4 ex-musicians of world famous bands, will form a new band. And what started on Youtube ended up on M6 which is one of the biggest european TV channel. And because of the unexpected aspect of the idea, earned media and social conversations played a huge part in the success of this content. The release of the original track “On The Road Again” and the concert in Paris helped to drive a new audience on the series.
18 millions people followed the webisodes. M6, one of the biggest TV channel, decided to broadcast the series. 90% of people liked this Ford new initiative. The music track produced by this new band has been downloaded more than 100,000 times. And the band is actually on tour with the EcoSport car. Pre-command for the new Ford EcoSport increased by 400% compared to the previous car launch. |
| awards | |
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Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2014 Bronze Branded Content & Entertainment Non-Fiction: TV & Broadcast |
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Brand Content
Agency: Ogilvy
Client: Ford
Production: Fighting Fish / Quad