automotive

Ram Truck Rides Into Deadwood In Old West Push

RamTruck

When is a Ram a steed? In the new advertising campaign for the Chrysler Group pickup truck brand, that's when. The Auburn. Mich.-based automaker is launching an old-West themed campaign, via The Richards Group, Dallas, that puts the truck in Matt Dillon country complete with sheriff, gunfighters, smithy and an assortment of scowling miscreants and granite-jawed stoics.

Chrysler has used anachronism to shake things up before with the Dodge Challenger car, in a freedom-themed homage to Valley Forge. In that ad, forewarned Redcoats aim muskets in the direction of an impending attack by revolutionaries, only to turn tail when George Washington and company roll into the field of battle in a fleet of Dodge Challengers.

Marissa Hunter, head of advertising for Ram Truck brand, tells Marketing Daily the common thread "is a collective desire on behalf of all our brands to build new personalities, new identities and new consideration around the unifying objectives: validating product attributes, but also provoking consumers to look at us as they have not in the recent past."

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The new campaign for Ram comprises an initial volley of four TV spots and an online campaign that includes a redesigned Web site for Ram. The campaign also introduces the new tagline "Guts. Glory. Ram."

In the 60-second launch spot the camera pans an old Deadwood, S.D.-like old West town, with voiceover saying: "In the old West, cowboys lived by an unspoken code: never try on another man's hat; always remove your firearms at the table; talk less, say more; always do what has to be done."

As a group of outlaws gaze out at a Ram truck rumbling along a mule track the voiceover says that some rules were easier to live by than others -- "and some were just impossible to abide: never covet another man's horse." The outlaw then says: "They got a name for that thing down there ... it's called 'mine.'"

Hunter says the rustic Western theatre "offers the perfect balance of the past and present in American values. We see it as a key period where hard work and well-crafted machines were a must and where people lived by a simple code around integrity, truth and hard work."

In another of the spots, touting the Cummins diesel engine under the hood of the Ram Heavy-Duty truck, the Ram faces off gunfighter style versus a competitive vehicle. But when a fire truck, an 18-wheeler, a pair of earthmovers and a bus line up behind the Ram, the other vehicle backs down.

The campaign will include real stories as well, on the brand's social media sites like the Ram Facebook page and Ram Zone blog.

"With any new campaign, you look at what's out there, how your competitors are delivering their message," says Hunter. "People have obviously seen a lot of truck advertising in last six months and we wanted to do something different and fresh and find an angle -- create our own theatre and platform."

Hunter also hinted that the story line implied by the 60-second launch spot where the outlaws decide they have to have the Ram for their own, might continue. "There are multiple phases of the campaign, so we are absolutely focused on delivering equal creative engagement in all the pieces to follow the 60-second spot," she says. "Obviously, the goal is to go well beyond the expected cliché and part of that is delivering something rich in mystery."

1 comment about "Ram Truck Rides Into Deadwood In Old West Push ".
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  1. Michael Cornette from Bonten Media, June 16, 2011 at 6:13 p.m.

    Never try on another man's hat? Don't take your guns to the dinner table? What drugstore cowboy world are these people living in? How do you not mention not cheating at cards and Deadwood in the same breath when talking about "codes"?

    I have no doubt that these ads will be visually awesome but these hopalongs need to spend some time in the West to understand what honor means as opposed to watching HBO for their inspiration.

    "Don't worry Sherriff. I saw Tombstone five times and I can write copy that would take the shine off of a brand new silver dollar quicker than you can spit a plug of tobacky juice in the mayor's eye."

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