Ford is launching a social-led campaign to encourage Canadians to showcase their adventurous spirit and cold-weather resilience by driving with their truck doors off.
The “Doors Off December” campaign highlights the brand’s Bronco, and how it is designed for those who refuse to let the cold keep them indoors. It also emphasizes the automaker’s Bronco-Off Roadeo, an experience included with the Bronco and Bronco Sport purchases, which offers customers the chance to develop their off-road driving skills.
Ford is supporting the campaign with guerrilla-style OOH posters, social videos showing an open-door Bronco, and collaborations with TikTok influencers such as The Reel Coach and Natalie Alysa. The brand has also launched limited edition products designed to protect customers from winter conditions while off-roading. In addition, the campaign includes a social media sweepstakes where Canadians can enter by sharing content of their Bronco in action, whether it’s a photo during a snowy mountain climb or a video of an off-road trip. The winners will be given an all-expenses-paid trip to the Bronco-Off Roadeo in Tennessee.
“This is a social-led campaign to showcase Canadians who exemplify the core insight of embracing the outdoors. Influencers and local dealers are also being tapped to encourage Bronco owners to join in. The allocation from paid media support is weighted towards amplifying the creator content (vs. brand material), which is different in that it allows the creators to be the voice of the campaign,” Nalini Dutta, manager of marketing communications at Ford Canada, tells MiC.
Dutta notes that the social-focused media plan was the ideal way to bring Bronco’s “Built Wild” global platform into the Canadian outdoor context. “[Built Wild] is all about getting people back into nature, breaking free from mundane routines and into the great outdoors,” she says. “This brand truth was perfectly aligned with the Canadian experience of embracing the outdoors across four distinct seasons, but one really stood out to us as a playground for Bronco: winter.”
Social media and influencers also help them reach the campaign’s main audience, which is current Bronco owners, the “living proof of what the Ford Bronco can do” according to Dutta, as well as people who enjoy an outdoor lifestyle. “Our aim is to turn our primary audience of owners who partake in ‘Doors Off December’ into advocates for just how well Bronco can conquer the Canadian wilderness,” she says.
WPP handles media and community management, while Wieden+Kennedy is behind the creative and strategy. Bond Brand Loyalty is in charge of contest management.
