• by Karl Greenberg , August 1, 2007

After inking a deal with Virgin America that makes its Land Rover brand the sponsor of video entertainment on Virgin's domestic service, parent Ford Motor is doing another airline-based ad push targeting families for the Taurus car.

The Dearborn, Mich. automaker revived the Taurus name for the second generation of its full-sized sedan formerly known as Five Hundred, and just launched a crossover version called Taurus X.

The airline push focuses only on the sedan, with tray table advertising on America West and US Airways. The summer program, which was brokered by Brand Connection's SkyMedia with creative by JWT Team Detroit, puts Taurus content on tray tables, but arranged so that three different ads appear on seat back trays in three-across configuration. Each ad includes a game that is seat-specific, with a reference to safety.

Jonathan Richards, Taurus marketing manager, says the two airlines were chosen because of their national and north-south coastal reach. "We selected those who with the best access and those two airlines cater to large numbers of summer-tourism travelers," he says.

"Taurus is focused on families and safety, and that's the key message. The basic proposition is when you are flying east or west you are going to be cooped up in this chair for a couple of hours, and, especially if you are a family, your tray table will be down much of the time."

Richards says an ad execution for the middle of three airline seats, touting Taurus' airbag with the message that the car is the safest full-sized sedan in America, pokes fun at possible interpretations of "airbag." A multiple choice question asks: "What is an airbag? A. The person to the left of you. B. The person to the right of you."

Richards says Ford--reflecting summer travel by families--has dialed down TV advertising for Taurus and ramped up radio buys and outdoor ads in selected urban markets that see a lot of summer travel.