automotive

Ford Launches European Campaign

Ford-Need-HelpFord of Europe is backing the 2013 UEFA Champions League Final football match and launching a brand campaign to support the relationship. 

The effort talks about specific Ford technology, while furthering the brand position evinced by its “Go Further” tag. Central to the effort are 15-, 20- and 30-second TV ads for the Euro market that will air during the final between FC Bayern Munich and BV Borussia Dortmund. The ads, as well as perimeter boards at the game, direct viewers to a revamped Ford Web site, videos and information about Ford technologies.

The three spots, touting Ford Sync with Emergency Assistance, Ford 1.0-litre EcoBoost technology and Ford Rear View Camera, started digitally on Thursday at Ford.com. Roelant de Waard, VP marketing, sales and service for Ford Europe, said in a statement, that the UEFA Champions League Final, to be held at Wembley Stadium in London on May 25, will grab a bigger TV audience than the Super Bowl. 

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A digital component of the campaign -- which has global reach at www.ford.com -- includes a revised home page, with a scrolling feature delineating Ford tech, with click-to videos that explore feature benefits. 

The TV spots, which have no voiceover for obvious reasons, use absurd scenarios to elaborate upon in-vehicle technology: in a spot about Sync Emergency Assistance, for example, a guy at the top of Spanish Steps in Rome slips and begins tumbling all the way down to the bottom, where he lands in a stretcher handled by two orderlies. He sits up and waves at the gaping crowd (not actors). In another, set in Spain, a guy and girl race in reverse in a pair of Fiestas, using the rear cameras to navigate. Ford will also be rolling out new print and outdoor advertising across Europe, per the automaker.

De Waard said the campaign also has a social vector where people can upload innovative ideas of their own.

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