Ogilvy and Mather has created a pounds 2.5 million campaign for the Ford
Maverick, aimed at showing how the off-road vehicle is as practical for
everyday driving as it is for tackling mountain roads.
The three 20-second commercials feature a shrunken Ford Maverick driven
by a couple who are grinning inanely. The ads have the feel of films
such as Honey I Shrunk the Kids and Fantastic Voyage, which show pint-
sized characters surviving in a giant world. The first film, entitled
‘body’, features a builder with painful indigestion. As he grips his
stomach in pain, the camera zooms into his mouth and we see the mini-
Maverick driving up his rubbery-looking oesophagus. The builder takes a
gulp of milky drink but the ensuing flood of liquid down his throat
fails to faze the cheery couple in the 4x4, who flick on their
windscreen washers and carry on driving.
The second film, called ‘club’, features a DJ playing scratch music on a
turntable, as the intrepid couple manoeuvre a Maverick along the grooves
in the record.
The final film, ‘sofa’, shows the Maverick travelling over rubbish
under a settee.
The campaign was created by Mark Orbine, an O&M copywriter, and art
directed by John McLaughlin. It was directed by Alex Winter through
Brave Films.
Leon Jaume, the O&M creative director for Ford, said: ‘People who buy
these cars aren’t all hairy-arsed outward bound types who want to rush
off and scale the peaks. They use them to go to Tesco.’
The ads break this week with an initial two-week burst on ITV and
Channel 4.
