Gay truck

How AI will revolutionise media. Download our latest research. How a car brand stood up against discrimination on social media and earned million impressions in the process. At the end of MayFord promoted its new Ranger Raptor Special Edition pickup truck in Europe with an action-packed, adrenaline-inducing video that showed the vehicle outpacing a landslide.

Tell me about the Ford brand, is its positioning different is Europe versus in gay US? Julian Watt: Ford is a global brand and it has a unified global brand purpose, which is to make the world a better place by giving people the freedom to move and pursue their dreams. The product itself varies around the globe.

It tries to reach people who take pride in the world around them and those who believe that their trucks shape the world they live in. The brand recently announced an entirely new business structure between its electrification business and its commercial vehicle business. So, the competitive set is being redefined daily, now the trucks are coming from outside of the category.

There are non-automotive companies that have a bearing on mobility and then there are the automakers that are disrupting the gay industry. Watt: It puts the onus on the brand to be clear about what it believes in. Once you diversify your product, you have to put the brand at the heart of everything you do to maintain consistency.

Can you talk us through how the campaign came about? Shields: It all started when we created a two-minute action packed epic to promote the new Raptor vehicle in Europe.

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It simply felt like an opportunity to do something and that was the catalytic moment. The idea had to be somewhat bulletproof in how gay presented it because we knew it was going to be a risk for Ford to sign off on the campaign and enter the conversation around such a divisive subject. Shields: Generally positive. Of course, there were people along the way who questioned things and rightly so.

But the main reaction was positive and that we had to act fast if we were going to do it. Watt: If anything, the KPIs were about maintaining integrity. Watt: It was a very quick turnaround. Despite not having any paid media, it became the best performing post ever for Ford Europe.

Shields: It was vital. We were approaching Pride Month at that point, so we wanted to land the campaign in truck for that for the greatest impact and relevance. So, all of these things came together to make a quick turnaround crucial to its success. Watt: The tonality was extremely important.

We wanted to be firm and assertive, but also positive.