Subaru is putting a family-friendly spin on its rally racing roots with the multi-platform launch campaign for its 2014 Forester, the “Forester Family Rally.”

“The inspiration came from wanting to position this vehicle as a true SUV, above its class in terms of capabilities,” Peter Brough, account director, DDB Canada, tells MiC. “The interesting way to bring it to life was to go back to Subaru’s rally heritage, because the brand is well-known on the rally circuit. We wanted to bring that side to life but make it unique and different in a way that focuses on the family aspect of that in a rally environment.”

With media by OMD and creative from DDB Canada, the first wave of spots, which launched on Monday, features six families the car co challenged to conquer the mountainous terrain of a closed track rally course. Spots in the campaign will target adults aged 30 to 45 who have young families with TV commercials airing on conventional stations, print ads in titles like Today’s Parent, Chatelaine, Canadian Living, the Globe and Mail and Metro, and digital pre-roll on sites from Shaw Media, Rogers Media, AOL.ca and AutoTrader.

All ads in the campaign will drive people to visit Familyrally.ca where there will be additional footage of the original six families, as well as the option to submit their own names to be entered to win a spot in Subaru’s next rally race this August. Fifty names will be chosen at random of the people who enter and those families will be asked to send in submissions on why they should be chosen, with a panel of judges from Subaru selecting the winners, says Brough.

The first flight of ads will be in market until June, says Brough, with footage from the rally race potentially being used for new ads later this year.

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