Ahead of the Super Bowl, Ford built a ‘brand experience center’ in New York. For many businesses, the Super Bowl represents a huge marketing opportunity. And while a similar campaign might be out of your budget, it’s good example of how to make the most of something that’s on the calendar in your local town.
What has Ford done?
For starters, they’ve booked a 90-second pre-Super Bowl slot on TV. But they’ve also created the FordHub in New York City’s Westfield World Trade Center.
What is FordHub?
It’s a fully interactive area that’s primary objective is to showcase Ford’s transition into a more innovative company that is thinking about ways to transform the future of transportation.
It seems that Ford has gone back to its roots. Since its inception, Ford has strongly held the belief that it should provide affordable transportation solutions to as many people as possible. So Ford is using both the TV ad and the FordHub to communicate some of their visions for the future.
What lessons can we learn from Ford?
There are plenty. Firstly, it’s important that a business has a vision and something to aspire to. Secondly, it’s vital that there’s a plan for communicating that vision.
However, the channels that you use to communicate any message are crucial to your success. Ford is using TV and experiential marketing to deliver what will surely be a memorable and newsworthy brand experience.
And for good reason.
It believes that an immersive event combined with a visual medium is powerful. So, Ford isn’t sticking all its eggs into one basket. But it is putting a huge emphasis on creating real engagement with their target audience.
Is there something similar you can do with your brand? Is there a way that you can combine something interactive with something more mainstream?
Focus on one key message about your brand that you’d like to get across to your audience. Then work out how to deliver a brand experience that will allow your audience to get a real feel for what you’re selling, whatever it is.
In addition to that, create a simple message that compliments the rest of your campaign and that can be delivered in an easy, straightforward way.
