Ford Motor Company just announced that it will unveil its all-new Ford Bronco lineup through a series of short films to be aired across Disney’s broadcast, cable, digital and streaming properties.
Three different 3-minute films will air during the first commercial break of the 8 PM EDT program on ABC, ESPN, and National Geographic. This corresponds to the time that Bronco fans can go on Ford.com to reserve the Bronco model of their choice for $100 a pop.
All three films will be available on demand on Hulu the following day. Additional content on the Bronco lineup’s features will appear on Ford’s own social channels, too.
Necessity is the mother of invention
As we saw in Shooting A Car Commercial Under Lockdown Is Child’s Play, the lockdown measures in place under COVID-19 have presented new challenges for traditional car commercials. They also have presented a challenge to the traditional showcase at live events like auto shows.
Ford had been planning to debut its new Bronco at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this past June. The show could not go on, though, due to the mandate to avoid such gathering. And that compelled Ford to come up with a different way to draw attention to the return of the Bronco after a 24-year hiatus.
But the announcement doesn’t present it as a make-do solution. Ford says, it expects that the films on Disney’s channels will reach “an even broader audience for its hotly anticipated Bronco debut.”
That is most likely true. As Variety reports, according to figures from Apptopia, on the weekend of the musical’s streaming, the Disney Plus app was downloaded 752,451 times, and more than half of those were in the United States.
Rita Ferro, president, Disney Advertising Sales, remarked, “At Disney, we take pride in creating culture and leveraging our unrivaled portfolio of brands to authentically and creatively tell stories during meaningful moments.”
Sometimes a bit of creativity and outside the box thinking can definitely go a long way!