A Ford For People Who Never Wanted One

Ford · BBDO Germany · 2020 · Role: Executive Creative Director

A bold visual system in loud color and graphic type, carried across print, social and a giant street mural painted by Taquen.

How do you sell a Ford to people who never once pictured themselves in one?

Ford Europe was in the middle of a big brand overhaul. The new cars were sharper, electrified and full of energy. The way Ford talked about them wasn’t. The Puma crossover was picked to prove the shift, so it couldn’t look anything like a showroom brochure from 2004.

Our audience was people who had never imagined owning a Ford. That was the hardest part of the job, and the biggest opportunity.

The idea
A look built on high-contrast color, graphic type and a flexible design system. It rolled out across print, digital and a custom street mural painted on site by artist Taquen.

Ford finally looked as fresh as its new cars, and spoke to a younger, design-minded crowd without leaning on the usual car-ad clichés.

The Ford Puma street mural by Taquen, a pair of birds on a building wall
Ford Puma print ad, A New Definition of More: a man walks past a blue Puma
Ford Puma print ad, A New Definition of More: a blue Puma seen from above against a yellow wall
Ford Puma print ad, A New Definition of More: friends gather around a blue Puma
Ford Puma print ad, A New Definition of More: a woman with shopping bags beside a blue Puma
Puma social post: a woman in a yellow jacket in front of a blue Puma, and the Puma badge
Puma social post: a woman in a yellow jacket, and a man walking toward a blue Puma
Puma social post: the blue Puma from above, and the digital dashboard
Puma social post: a woman leaning out of the car, and the Puma's seats

What I did

  • Part of the wider Ford Europe repositioning I led at BBDO.

  • Directed the team through the identity, color strategy, type and the mural concept.

  • Pitched and sold it to Ford leadership, then saw it through production.

Same blue oval. Whole new crowd.

Want to talk about work like this?
Email me or find me on LinkedIn.

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