Ford leveraged dynamic mobile video to promote the new line of its iconic F-150 model to MENA consumers.
Objective:
Keeping Ford F-150's striking motto in mind "Tougher than before, smarter than ever," Ford wanted to promote its new iconic F-150 model's new line to its target audience in a powerful yet engaging way through the undeniable power of mobile advertising.
Target Audience:
The campaign targeted males 25 to 44 from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia (KSA) who were married with kids and had a high income. It also targeted males 18 to 44 from Kuwait who enjoyed local games, action, adventure, puzzles, sports, trivia, racing, and word games.
Creative Strategy:
According to the Digital Turbine inventory research, 77 percent of the adults in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are playing mobile games. Being one of the iconic players in the automotive industry for more than a decade, Ford is always following trends. Ford noticed the mobile gaming scene's growth over the globe, especially in the MENA region, and saw an opportunity to reach that audience by using the power of mobile games in two languages — English and Arabic — in three different countries. As a pioneer, Ford couldn't just create an ordinary mobile ad. With the help of Digital Turbine's high tech Aurora HD video execution, Ford invited its target audience to engage with the brand through watching the ad, and ultimately created a highly engaging campaign to promote the new F-150.
Context:
The campaign started on February 15, 2021 and ended on March 3, 2021. Ford created a fun mobile video and an engaging Dynamic End Card in two languages of the targeted region.
Overall Campaign Execution:
Ford wanted to capture the target audience with not just a simple mobile video but wanted them to engage with the ad while discovering the new toughest design, and most productive features of the F-150 through watching the ad. By using Digital Turbine's impeccable Aurora HD video technology, Ford created a campaign to reach its target audience in UAE, KSA, and Kuwait. Audiences were invited to engage with the video through their phones and take actions — such as, "wipe the dust on the screen," "tap to find out more," "browsing the gallery via tap" — to discover all the unique features of the new Ford F-150. After the engaging video executions, the audience was invited to deeply examine the Ford F-150 through a Dynamic End Card, which pops up on their screens. Dynamic End Card allows users to learn more about the new Ford truck through hot-spot points, thus increasing the engagement rates with the brand and the ad itself.
Mobile Execution:
Campaign execution was 100 percent on mobile. Eighty-two percent of the users completed the video on their mobile device by using WiFi and 81 percent by using cellular connection. The most used operating system was Apple's iOS (85 percent) followed by Android (80 percent).
Context:
Being one of the key players in the automotive industry, Ford couldn't just sit still and ignore the power of mobile advertising, especially during a time when mobile usage skyrocketed more than ever.
Evaluation:
Thanks to this engaging campaign Ford achieved more than 1.2 million completed video views with more than 1.1 million of them being unique viewers. The campaign reached more than 1.5 million impressions and had an 83 percent completion rate, which exceeded the original benchmark of 80 percent. The on-video engagement rate reached a massive 258.8 percent with more than 3.2 million on-video engagements. The most engaged action was "wipe the dust on the screen," with more than 1.2 million engagements. At the same time, the engagement rate of the Dynamic End Card execution was 7.8 percent, more than double the 3 percent Hotspot Dynamic End Card benchmark. Users additionally spent 7.1 seconds on DEC exceeding the six second benchmark.
Market Impact:
Results of the campaign were also measured with a Nielsen Certified Brand Study. A 34.8 percent uplift in message association proved that the campaign increased the brand's recognition among the target audience, thanks to the Aurora, which allows the users to connect within the ad itself and highlight the features of Ford F-150. A Massive 309 percent uplift on purchase intent indicates that the campaign affected users' tendency to rate Ford positively.
