• by Karl Greenberg , April 8, 2010

Ford is launching an integrated ad and marketing push for the 2011 Ford F-Series Super Duty that includes online chats and TV print. The campaign, which focuses on towing and payload capability, fuel economy and productivity, also features long-time F-Series endorser, country star Toby Keith. 

In fact, Ford revealed the new campaign at the grand opening of Keith's "I Love This Bar & Grill." Although Keith is a Texas native, and Ford is in Dearborn, Mich., his new restaurant is in Auburn Hills, Mich. -- which, ironically, is the hometown of rival Dodge Ram.

As it has for several years, Ford is promoting its F-Series through sponsorship of Keith's summer concert tour, this year's version of which is called 2010 "America's Toughest Tour." At Keith concerts, Ford has product placement and heavy brand integration, usually on the stage itself with truck-themed set pieces, and, in at least one instance, an actual F-Series truck.

Ford is also touting the trucks at events like Monster Jam, Professional Bull Riders events, and relationships with Future Farmers of America, the American Quarter Horse Association and the Dallas Cowboys.

Ford says it also released technical data about the truck months early at www.fordvehicles.com/2011superduty.

"We wanted to make sure the super duty customer had access to all new information about the truck, including what went on behind the scenes," said Eric Peterson, Ford Truck Communications manager. "We showed them how our engineers and our fleet customers tested the new power stroke diesel. Now, we're showing them how the truck performs against the competition."

The company has also been running webisodes that focus on F-Series technical details. The first set of Webisodes, released last fall, focused on engineering and the kinds of engine testing Ford does. The second set, earlier this year, involved a handful of commercial truck users in Wyoming, Florida and Texas who got pre-production F-Series heavy duties to use on the job.

A new series -- which still features Mike Rowe, star of cable show "Dirty Jobs," as host -- pits Ford's heavy duty against competitors like the Dodge Ram HD and Chevrolet Silverado HD in towing fuel economy. A social media push includes chats hosted by Ford engineers on sites like www.thefordstory.com and www.ford-trucks.com.

The new TV spots feature the voice of Denis Leary, whom Ford tapped for the first time early last year to apply his famous ranting style of standup comedy to the truck world. The ads had frenetic visuals that seemed to follow Leary's train-of-thought comments about Ford trucks. The ads are airing during broadcasts of events like NASCAR, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball coverage.

The effort includes five print ads to run in Sports Illustrated, Field & Stream, Popular Science and Builder.