Ford Prepares for Its Close-up

DETROIT Ford is partnering with a new film group formed by BET founder Robert Johnson and veteran producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein in a multiyear alliance that includes product placement, merchandising, dealership promotions, script integration and sponsorships, Brandweek has learned.The first movie from Our Stories Films under the agreement will be announced in the fall, a Ford representative said. Our Stories plans to release three to five family-themed films a year."This is an agreement that allows Ford to tap a lot of sources," Johnson said. "It allows Ford to do placement in the movies and it will also allow weaving the brand itself into the storyline. There are parts in the movies that can involve Ford, such as if it calls for an auto dealer—that [person] can be a Ford dealer. A character could work for Ford. There are lots of possibilities, as long as they work in the storyline," he said.Johnson added that through the alliance with the film company, Ford would make valuable contacts for future celebrity and industry connections. Greyhound bus line is also in negotiation with Our Stories for a placement and promotion deal, sources said, but no agreement has been finalized.The deal between Ford and Our Stories seeks to broaden the automaker's reach among African-American consumers. (Ford ranked fourth among black consumers in a 2005 poll by Strategic Vision behind Nissan, Toyota and Chevrolet.)"We are all grappling with our numbers in this audience," said Marc Perry, multicultural marketing manager at Ford/Lincoln. A figure is hard to derive, he said, because registrations, the usual metric for such penetration, cannot be noted by race."We know that we can do better than what we are doing and this opportunity allows us to go after a targeted audience," Perry said. "It's African-Americans in urban centers. This arrangement helps by allowing us to cast both characters and vehicles, and with our imaging onscreen."Ford will integrate promotions for Our Stories Films in its minority-targeted Web sites, fordurban.com and lincolnlounge.com. Perry said that Ford also plans to launch a vehicle via the new partnership.Ford will get script reads before production to check for possible integration, and will be allowed to make suggestions about the stories.Ford is a prominent user of placement and celebrity as part of its marketing, most recently in Casino Royale, in which the Ford Mondeo was driven by the James Bond character."What we know is that they create a tremendous amount of buzz and get people talking about the product," Perry said of such efforts.Ford spent $580 million on ads through April, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

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Ford Prepares for Its Close-up

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