• by Tanya Gazdik , Yesterday

Ford Motor Co. has launched an immersive experience focused on one of its most iconic vehicles, the Mustang sports car. 

Created in partnership with the Petersen Automotive Museum and Imagine Studios, "American Icon: A Mustang Immersive Experience" is billed as a "journey through culture at the wheel of the world's most popular sports car.”  

Attendee explore the influence of the Ford Mustang through immersive storytelling, a 4D thrill ride and a display of the most famous movie Mustangs in history. Part of the exhibit is voiced by actor Anthony Mackie, best known for his role as Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Ford has a stand at the Los Angles Auto Show, which opens to media on Thursday and the public Friday, to publicize the experience. 

The goal of the experience, which runs from 45 to 60 minutes, is to introduce Mustang to its next generation of fans through immersive entertainment, says Ian Cohen, head of Ford creative content. 

It  opened to the public in Los Angeles on Nov. 8 and runs through Feb 8. The next stops will include Miami and Dallas.

“The great thing that now that it's built, we see how it's modular, and we could put it in a truck and drive it to another city, pop it back up,” Cohen tells Marketing Daily. “We now know the height that we need for the buildings. We know the total square footage we need, and kind of a flow map now.”

Tickets are $35 and can be bought in advance or at the door.

The experience is set up as a series of rooms, which open in sequence to attendees. Two immersive projection galleries combine 360 projections with real vehicles to create chase scenes, road trips and epic vistas.

There are two eye-catching Mustangs on display on top of shipping containers outside of the exhibit which have attracted some of the impromptu attendees, Cohen says. 

“It's a new platform to showcase our products and our nameplates,” Cohen says. “It's a cultural way of experience things. This changes how you actually absorb the media and the content.”

A Ford spokesman declined to comment on how much it cost Ford and its partners to orchestrate the event. But Cohen says he believes the content can pay for itself.

“Especially with streamers and different ways of affiliate and and car purchases,” he says. “So if you go to the experience, and you take your ticket to any Ford dealer through January, you get $500 off a Ford car purchase. So if someone brings that ticket in, buys a Ford product, then it's a lead generator. So, that is another way content pays for itself.”