JWT/Detroit Co-President Tom Cordner speaks on
"American Dreams"/Mustang film
Ford sent consumers a heartfelt family message this holiday season with a special episode of NBC's hit drama "American Dreams." The show's 11/21 episode, which aired without commercial interruption by Ford, featured the homecoming of JJ Pryor -- a lead character in the show who has been away at war -- and concludes with a nearly five-minute short film titled, "Homecoming."
The short film, from Ford's AOR J. Walter Thompson Detroit, captures the anticipation of a young serviceman's return home from war -- and the parallel experiences of his father who had undergone a similar series of events in Vietnam. It mirrors the storyline in "American Dreams" but brings the events into the modern day to communicate the continued importance of celebrating today's homecoming experiences for our servicemen and servicewomen.
We interviewed Rich Stoddart, Ford Division marketing communications manager (11/24 RBR #230), (11/30 RBR #232).
Today we interview J. Walter Thompson/Detroit Executive Creative Director/Co-President Tom Cordner on the effort:
Tell us a bit about how JWT worked with Ford and "American Dreams" in getting this done.
"We have a great relationship with Ford, whereby they encourage us to look for properties where we can have a dominant presence, where we can run our commercials, sometimes influence the content of a show (which we did) and pursue the opportunity of non-traditional media, which that film was, to reach consumers in a powerful way. Mostly, consumers are very jaded about advertising. They don't sit in front of a television waiting for the next commercial to come on-nobody does that. We're these unwelcomed guests in people's homes, and Ford recognizes that. And to find non-traditional ways to have them experience the Ford brand and some values that may be associated with that is an enormous opportunity-in a way that isn't in a traditional ad format.
So, when our brand entertainment group every once-in-a-while comes up with these opportunities, they are presented to Ford. They decide whether it has the right credentials and the right scope of demographics to meet their objectives, and is it a good value? Once we determine that we then find out how far can we influence, or what impact can we have to make people look at Ford or even consider spending more time with the brand-for them to look at Ford and be intrigued by what they're promoting in a non-traditional way."
Indeed that was the case, especially vs. a :30 second spot.
"They are constantly on the lookout for these opportunities, simply because you can't achieve much in :30 seconds. When you've only got :30 seconds (you very rarely get to do :60s), you pretty much have to lay it out there for them and you're selling. So here's a way to come at them in a way that's very meaningful and very relevant to people's lives. It isn't about blue states or red states, it's just about people's lives. It's about our young men and women coming home from a place that's not at all like home.
This gave us an opportunity to stretch the Ford brand. And there's an archetype in the father, in that family. That family is as much Ford across America-not just Detroit or Midwest or Texas. That is a family that's an archetype Ford family-loving, caring, involved in the politics of the world."
Are you reading this from a forwarded email?
