The Brief

Often seen as their father’s car, Ford Focus has to dispel the myth and be appealing to the young urban Malaysian 25- 34yrs. The latest Ford sensation which combines stunning exterior, spacious interior, speedy performance and high tech safety is bound to appeal to the younger urbanites, ONCE they test drive the car! Our task was to instill interest in test drives, but how to do we get these urbanites interested in the first place?

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

We decided to bring the test drive experience to their world. We intercepted the young urbanites’ favourite hangout and got their complete attention in the cinema hall. We recruited Malaysia’s hottest online video sensation Jinny Boy to customize a 40sec short film and screened before a movie. In the short film, Jinny Boy lost his Ford Focus car key and turn to the cinema audience to help him find the key under their cinema seat. The finder of the keys will get to drive home the new Ford Focus for a whole week!

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

This pioneering activation created a lot of talkability. 80% of “new-to-Ford” young urbanities that drove the car home were truly impressed with Ford Focus and significantly increased purchase intent by 30%. This was translated into a sales increment of 11% compared to the previous campaign month and surpassed its business targets by 38%! It was recognized by Ford Asia Pacific’s as a Best Practices in marketing effort.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

85% of young prospects described the conventional 5-10 minute test-drives accompanied by a salesperson as short, uncomfortable and felt like a “product demonstration” rather than a true driving experience. With this insight, we revolutionized the consumer experience in two key areas. First, we bring the test drive to the young urbanites, right to their favourite hangout spot, a first in Malaysia. Secondly, we transformed the “5-10 minute test drive” into an “experience drive”, a weeklong experience without the salesman allowing the young prospects to immerse themselves with Ford Focus, experiencing it just like they would if they bought the car.