Simple Message. Perfect Targeting. Great Execution.
Every now and then, an ad comes along that just makes you feel good. Maybe it’s the imagery, or the product and the way it’s being used or maybe it’s the music. In Ford’s new TV commercial, Tow It, it’s all three, and that doesn’t happen every day.
Ford F-150 TV Commercial, ‘Tow It’
When I was a kid, I, like lots of other kids who grew up in the country was enamored with the wild west. We used to run around at school and pretend to be Jesse and Frank James, or have to be the good guys and chase the James brothers around. TV shows like The Rifleman, The Lone Ranger and Wild Wild West made the heroes bigger than life. And the way the producers wove in just the right blend of music and drama was genius. Back then, production capabilities were limited as were the number of TV channels, 3 (plus PBS). Today, you can produce almost anything that you can imagine and there are hundreds of TV and video channels and tons of programming, so a commercial really has to stand out to be noticed. Tow It does stand out, but it’s not because of the slick production. It’s because it truly engages the target audience with music you’ve heard all your life and scenes that we see and can relate to every day.
When the commercial begins, the music immediately reaches out and grabs you and takes you back (figuratively) to a bygone era of the old west. Then the trucks start rolling through the picture, each towing a different load of things that we who live in rural America can relate to; a camper, 4 wheelers, a boat, lumber, livestock, hay, football equipment, watermelons…well you get the picture. The Ford F-150 is towing all the things you would typically see running down the road out here and all the things that we who live out here pull on a daily basis.
As a consumer, I can see myself in every scene, although you never see any people at all, just one horse (and he looks a lot like Silver – you know, Hi ho Silver!). I can see myself driving down the road in my Ford truck, heading down the highway, across the bridge at the lake, through downtown, down the dusty gravel road, into the stadium and along the county road. It’s all places we go out here because of course, you can go anywhere in a truck.
Once Ford has you locked into the spot, it drops the message hammer down with up to 13,200 pounds of available towing. You name it and the Ford F-150 can tow it.
Simple message. Targeted to all the guys and gals in rural America that own trucks or want one. Dramatic execution all wrapped up in a feel-good package. Well done Ford.
