Malaysian Media Awards Winners Showcase





2013 | |

Ford’s Game of Change

Advertiser: Sime Darby Auto Connexion
Brand: Ford
Creative Agency: Pegasus Film
Credits: Mindshare Malaysia — Ng Joe Yee (Senior Executive), Bryan Chiang (Manager), Elaine Lee (Manager), Koh Yee Ling (Director, Client Leadership) / Golden Screen Cinemas — Emily Siew (Marketing Executive) / CineAd — May Choo (Assistant Manager) / JWT Malaysia — Yee Lin Tze (Account Executive), Adrian Cheah (Account Director)


Challenge
The new Ford Focus is the only passenger car to offer cutting-edge innovations like “Active Park Assist” that works better and is more affordable than luxury car badges. Even so, Ford faced an uphill battle in appealing to younger consumers. How do we revolutionize the way we connect with them?

Solution
85% of young prospects described 5- 10 minute test-drives as short and felt like a “product demo”. With this insight, we strategized a paradigm shift: why not change the “test-drive” into an “experience drive”, a weeklong experience without the salesman? But how do we get them to experience Ford Focus? We pioneered a new selling strategy by engaging them in a place where they hang out most – Cinema, turning it into exciting, live treasure hunts.

Execution
Jinnyboy, Malaysia’s hottest online video sensation, was recruited to produce a 40-second short story screened before a movie. During the video Jinnyboy loses his Ford Focus car key and turns to the cinema audience for help to find his key under their seats, the finders of which will drive home the new Ford Focus for a week, experiencing it just like they would if they bought the car.

Results
This pioneering activation, acclaimed as Ford Asia-Pacific’s Best Practices for A&P, singlehandedly instilled authentic conversation verbatim online and offline. 80% of prospects that drove the car home were impressed; over 30% showed strong intention to buy, now that’s 2x more effective than the conventional way of selling a car.