Ford Bronco Sport ad “Raised by Goats”.
Ford
Ford presents its new Bronco Sport vehicle with an advertising campaign to show off its goats, not just the furry ones.
“Built Wild” ads will begin rolling out this weekend during the NFL playoffs and will begin with the 60-second “Raised by Goats” spot, which tells the vehicle’s mythical origin story and features goats and live horses. The spot will premiere Saturday during the Rams-Seahawks game.
Goats take on a double meaning, also referring to the “Pass over any terrain” modes of cars. “GOAT” was also the original code name for the Bronco, which the company revived after its last production from 1965 to 1996. The vehicle is Ford’s first direct rival with Jeep since the original Bronco.
While Ford doesn’t advertise during this year’s Super Bowl, executives said they wanted the space to feel “worthy of the Super Bowl” and have the kind of creative message that viewers would want to see again. The company worked with Wieden + Kennedy in New York on the sites.
Another site with the terrain modalities will be released on Monday in “Good Morning America,” while a third will premiere in February. Ford executives said the campaign would also emphasize video streaming.
Ford dealers wanted to create a campaign to help the Bronco Sport emerge from the shadows of the upcoming Bronco, an SUV more akin to an all-terrain truck that is scheduled to go on sale this summer. They also wanted to show the features of the vehicle that make it a “mobile base camp,” said Stuart Jennings, creative director of Wieden + Kennedy in New York.
The last of the points focuses more on the features of the car, which has a drop-down work table, flood lights and, depending on the model, built-in power plugs.
“Our customer is someone who lives a bit of a versatile life,” said Dave Rivers, marketing director for U.S. Ford SUVs. “They go to work in the morning and work all day, but at 5 o’clock or they touch the tracks, they touch the trails; they enjoy the outdoors.” He said consumers reach the brand from Jeep’s Cherokees or Compasses vehicles or Subaru vehicles.
The first place, shot on Mt. Baker, in Washington state, involved casting and “interviewing” goats to find those with the right personality and temperament to fit the site, the company said.
“Goats are very smart, but they are stubborn. Sometimes they just don’t want to hear them. If they want to eat grass, they will eat grass,” Jennings said in a statement. “We just had to wait a few times and encourage them to do their performance.”
Filming was also affected by the weather, as last year they had not planned for snow during production. The pandemic added another layer to the complicated production.
“It was a very interesting shoot, at least,” Jennings said in a media call Thursday.
The National Football League will allow CBS, NBC and Fox to sell an additional two minutes of publicity during the pre-Super Bowl playoff games, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. And with the pandemic affecting NFL programming, advertisers who are not yet committed could see last-minute discounts for Super Bowl slots, CNBC reported last month.