Ford Embraces VOD For Three-Month Campaign

Ford Motor Co. this month is launching its first video-on-demand ad campaign, banking on the technology becoming as vital a medium for selling cars as is the Internet.The three-month campaign will kick off December 28 and will air on cable systems owned by Woodbury, N.Y.-based Cablevision and St. Louis-based Charter Communications. The move puts the ads before the two cable operators' digital subscribers, who number roughly 4.5 million, Ford officials said. Creative for the campaign mixes branded entertainment, 30-second ads, reviews of the cars by car-shopping service Edmunds and "video tours" that highlight car features. The Cablevision version requires viewers to click on a Ford icon, which takes them to a menu where they can access content or request more information. For Ford's Fusion, the branded entertainment includes footage of a quirky Norwegian troupe that blends rock with performance art, clearly geared to a younger crowd, while the Explorer is linked to a video on the Ironman competition, which Explorer sponsors. Under a key provision of the deal, the cable operators will give Ford sales leads generated by viewers who request more information and give permission to be contacted. The cable systems will also provide detailed data about how VOD watchers manipulate (fast forward, pause, rewind, etc.) the ads and other content.Neither party would disclose the media budget, but sources estimate it's in line with similar VOD deals, which range from $50,000 to $150,000 per month per cable operator. Ford spent over $1.6 billion on U.S. measured media for the first nine months of 2005, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus.Nonetheless, Ford executives believe ad-supported VOD—still in its infancy—will be key to selling cars in the future. "We definitely see it becoming a core medium in the whole one-to-one marketing space," said Linda Perry-Lube, car communications manager at Ford. VOD does the Web one better with "richer video content," said Perry-Lube, which means better-looking pictures and displays of Ford products. "Internet TV and cable are blending together, and the ability to have better interfaces with cable systems and more rich VOD content is only going to grow."Spearheading the campaign for Ford is Brian Bos, convergence director, WPP's JWT Detroit. Bos joined the agency this May after a six-year stint at IPG's GM Mediaworks. While there, Bos led GM's pioneering forays into VOD and other new media platforms. Bos said the data on how consumers interact with the medium is as important as the campaign itself. "We'll be able to find the features viewers focused on, what they didn't find interesting or even if an edit has too slow a pace. We'll be able to adjust as we better understand what the consumer is trying to get out of the various segments," Bos said. Barry Frey, svp, Cablevision Advanced Platforms, said the response rate for consumers who requested more information about cars during a previous campaign by an unnamed client reached 3 percent. "That's extremely positive," Frey said. Total VOD spending could reach $2 billion by decade's end, per PricewaterhouseCoopers.

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Ford Embraces VOD For Three-Month Campaign

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