Making sustainability scrumptious 

I was engaged to help Ford establish their master brand narrative. One of the pillars I identified to assist in their transformation included sustainability. 

It is a little-known fact that Ford has been a pioneer in sustainable manufacturing for decades; upcycling biomaterials into car parts such as trunk mats—way before it was trendy. With Ford continuing to struggle with attracting millennials, now was not the time to play humble.

The Insight

With environmental issues regularly topping the list of concerns most dear to millennials, we sought to highlight Ford’s sustainability innovations in a way that was more inspiring than boring carbon reduction pledges and sappy manifesto videos extolling nature’s beauty. 

Insight: While sustainability facts are ignorable, tangible sustainability acts aren't

The Strategy

[BUSINESS PROBLEM] Ford's ailing brand perception is eroding Ford's marketshare with millennials

[CONSUMER PROBLEM] Problem is, millennials see big auto as perpetrators of corporate greenwashing

[INSIGHT] However, while sustainability facts are ignorable, tangible sustainability acts aren't

[SOLUTION] We need to make Ford's sustainability innovations appear as tangible as their cars

[CONSUMER GOAL] So millennials can practice ethical consumerism in their vehicle choices 

[BUSINESS GOAL] Helping to elevate Ford as a leader in sustainability, growing brand perception

The Idea

We created the first Ford you can drink instead of drive, by taking many of the same sustainable ingredients found in Ford vehicles today such as coconut, rice, and soy, and turning it into a delicious smoothie.

The Comms Strategy

Our approach to marketing the Ford Smoothie was to market it just like a modern organic juice brand, which we executed in a three-phased approach: 

The Results

1. 60M impressions, lifting millennial brand favourability by 8.4% (nearly 3x Google benchmarks)
   
   
2. 300% increase in Ford + sustainability related Google search queries
   
   
3. Millennial web traffic was up 46% on campaign page, vs overall Ford.ca traffic

Awards

• CMA Awards: Business Impact (Gold)
• CMA Awards: Innovative Media (Gold)