• by Christine Champagne , March 22, 2007

How do you reach families who hunt and fish together? After all, you can’t exactly trek out into the wilderness and slap ads onto deer.

On the prowl for outdoorsy types to drive its 2007 Ford Expedition EL, Ford Motor Company partnered with PRIMEDIA Outdoors Group, which owns such magazines as Bowhunter and Fly Fisherman, to produce a co-branded microsite based on the theme

“The Great Outdoors: A Family Tradition” (fordexpedition.primediaoutdoors.com).

Taking the concept of content-rich to a new level, the site features an abundance of editorial and video as well as photo-sharing capabilities and contests.

“It would have been easy for Ford to outsource something like this and have somebody build a Web site for them, but what they wouldn’t have is the rich content we have,” says David Fireman, general manager of the PRIMEDIA Outdoors Online Group. Or the built-in audience, Fireman adds. Overall, PRIMEDIA’s online properties aimed at the outdoor enthusiast average 1.3 million unique visitors each month.

However, it isn’t just online exposure Ford attains through the deal. The automaker also gets to show off the Expedition EL live and in person at PRIMEDIA Outdoors Group events, like the Florida Sportsman shows. According to Dave Sanabria, Ford SUV marketing communications manager, “Ford had the opportunity to reach more than 100,000 people at these events in the fourth quarter of last year.”

Christine Champagne

The Hunters Are the Prey

How do you reach families who hunt and fish together? After all, you can’t exactly trek out into the wilderness and slap ads onto deer.

On the prowl for outdoorsy types to drive its 2007 Ford Expedition EL, Ford Motor Company partnered with PRIMEDIA Outdoors Group, which owns such magazines as Bowhunter and Fly Fisherman, to produce a co-branded microsite based on the theme

“The Great Outdoors: A Family Tradition” (fordexpedition.primediaoutdoors.com).

Taking the concept of content-rich to a new level, the site features an abundance of editorial and video as well as photo-sharing capabilities and contests.

“It would have been easy for Ford to outsource something like this and have somebody build a Web site for them, but what they wouldn’t have is the rich content we have,” says David Fireman, general manager of the PRIMEDIA Outdoors Online Group. Or the built-in audience, Fireman adds. Overall, PRIMEDIA’s online properties aimed at the outdoor enthusiast average 1.3 million unique visitors each month.

However, it isn’t just online exposure Ford attains through the deal. The automaker also gets to show off the Expedition EL live and in person at PRIMEDIA Outdoors Group events, like the Florida Sportsman shows. According to Dave Sanabria, Ford SUV marketing communications manager, “Ford had the opportunity to reach more than 100,000 people at these events in the fourth quarter of last year.”