When the auto industry was at a turning point, how did an iconic American auto brand modernize itself while staying true to itself and what it had always stood for? You doubled down on your capability and drivers.
To future-proof the Ford brand, the automaker wanted to inject the entire company with adrenaline. And it did just that by building on its strengths, embracing new technology, and delivering incredibly capable, passion-driven vehicles and experiences.
For over two years, we worked closely with Ford to develop a global brand strategy that informed more than its marketing. It informed the entire company.
This led to Ready Set Ford, a global platform that enabled people to discover they were more capable than they thought. The strategy was rooted in a customer lifestyle-led approach that then guided everything Ford did, from vehicle development and services to marketing and experience. It was a clear example of how brand strategy could influence an enterprise.
With Ready Set Ford, the driver was at the center. Instead of leading with its vehicles alone, the brand focused on the lifestyles it supported. This shift shaped everything from how vehicles were designed to how they were experienced in showrooms, and it also influenced new technologies and experiences.
Ready Set Ford reset the brand with a new design system and the usual channels, such as film, OOH, radio, and digital. But the icing on the cake was a first-of-its-kind partnership with Google to traverse the country’s longest off-road trail–the TransAmerica Trail–making it available on Google Maps and giving everyone the confidence to tackle the off-road.
An ethos that could scale across nearly 30 global markets, thousands of dealers, and countless stakeholders. A north star that went beyond surface-level ads and actually shaped how customers experienced the brand and how the company showed up, inside and out.
