Ford wanted to raise awareness of it’s all new 2017 Super Duty model among truck buyers with specific professions and interests that demand the capabilities of the heavy duty pickup.
The campaign resulted in the following success metrics:
- 18 million people reached
- 18-point lift in ad recall
- 7-point lift in favorability
How did they do it?
The Ford Motor Company wanted to educate truck consumers about the features about its all-new 2017 Super Duty truck, so it partnered with Facebook Creative Shop to develop a variety of ads including Canvas, carousel ads and video ads.
Each ad highlighted the capabilities of the truck in a setting aligned with particular vocational or recreational interests. For instance, one video-based carousel ad targeted to people working in the forestry industry showed a forklift loading a pile of lumber into the bed of a Super Duty. Some of the video ads were filmed on a smart phone, simulating user generated content to create an authentic feel.
The ad campaign was targeted to US men aged 25-49 working in professions identified by automotive marketing company Polk and consumer data company Datalogix. Because many pickup owners buy their trucks for day to day work, Ford built custom segments for each vocation target: oil and gas, construction and forestry. The marketing team also used Facebook targeting to identify audiences with specific recreational interests, including outdoor, sports, cars and DIY projects and tech.
To get insights to optimize future Facebook ads, Ford conducted an A/B test to determine which was more successful: niche targeting with tailored creative or broader targeting with more generic creative. A Milward Brown Brand Lift study found that niche targeting drove a higher lift in ad recall, while broader targeting drove a higher lift in favorability.
Ford achieved their brand awareness objective by creating a campaign that identified their buyer’s specific vocational interests and aligned it with custom content they would naturally respond to. This approach put the peddle to the metal and drove results!