Ford Canada has launched two social videos, which cash in on the undead trend of the year (zombies) and the coming zombie apocalypse, which some have penciled in for Dec. 22.
Working with Sonic Boom on creative and media by Mindshare, the YouTube videos promote the brand’s revamped 2013 Ford Escape and marks the first time the car co has had online spots produced by a social media star, opening up the brand to involve “YouTube super user” Patrick Boivin, says Ammar Khan, social media manager, Ford Canada.
Khan says the videos are a bit of an experiment for the brand, to see how many views it can get with a smaller media buy through partnering with a popular YouTube star that has a built-in audience and spreading the word through reaching out to Canadians who tweet, podcast and write online about zombies. The campaign will also be promoted with a two-week online buy on Google, through promoted tweets and on comedy and news sites.
Helen Karrandjas Moore, director, account strategy, Sonic Boom, says the videos cap off the first year Ford Canada has gone heavy with its social media presence, aiming to reach beyond the traditional audience of consumers who are a bit more conservative.
“The 2013 Ford Escape has a new look so we wanted to get this brand new vehicle in front of new eyeballs,” she says. “We can talk to current Escape owners and the classic target for the brand through a variety of platforms but we really wanted something that would be different and disruptive. We looked at the demographics and psychographics for Boivin’s channel and saw there is a lot of overlap with who we are already reaching but we are also reaching new people who might not have seen it before.”
The first video in the series is live on the YouTube pages for both Ford Canada and Boivin, while the second will live exclusively on the brand’s page to drive viewers get to the car co’s YouTube home.
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