An adventurous new ad campaign for the all-new Ford Explorer – America’s all-time best-selling SUV* – debuts this weekend with a series of ads that make grand exploration of everyday family outings such as buying basketball shoes, visiting a pet spa and taking the kids for ice cream. The multichannel campaign, which includes TV, print, radio, social media, out-of-home and in-cinema ads, was developed with Wieden + Kennedy New York.
“For decades, Explorer has defined what an SUV is,” said Matt VanDyke, Ford director of U.S. marketing. “Everything about the new Explorer was built with family adventure in mind – whether that’s visiting a national park or loading up for a romp at the local dog park.”
In the campaign’s feature spot, “Journey Home,” an astronaut makes a dramatic return to Earth, hops into an Explorer Platinum, then embarks on a journey to pick up his kids from school. Their exploration involves stopping at a shoe store to get his daughter a pair of basketball shoes and picking up a pre-cooked dinner at a grocery store.
Narrator Bryan Cranston – the voice of the Built Ford Proud campaign that launched last year – reminds us, “You don’t have to go to another planet to be an explorer. You can be an explorer right here on Earth. The all-new 2020 Ford Explorer. It’s the greatest exploration vehicle of all time.”
In an ad featuring the all-new Explorer ST, “Nighttime Adventure,” a marine biologist leaving a remote job site uses the vehicle’s Terrain Management System with seven selectable drive modes to travel across rough terrain and ultimately treat her family to froyo. Another one for the first-ever Explorer Limited Hybrid, “Return to Civilization,” follows an arctic explorer who changes places with her canine team, loading the dogs into her Explorer and hauling them from a remote arctic camp to pamper them at a pet spa.
Redesigned from the ground up, the 2020 Ford Explorer features lighter, leaner and stronger construction, more powerful available EcoBoost® engines and smart new technology to help tackle all of life’s adventures. Its rear-wheel-drive architecture enables a sportier, more athletic design, improved on- and off-road capability and 600 pounds more in available maximum towing capacity**.
The broadest Explorer lineup ever includes the first-ever Explorer ST with a 3.0-liter EcoBoost engine that is the most powerful Explorer ever, plus an all-new Explorer Limited Hybrid. While actual mileage will vary, Explorer Limited Hybrid with rear-wheel drive has an EPA-estimated range of over 500 milest between fill-ups; four-wheel-drive-equipped vehicles have an EPA-estimated range of over 450 milesz per tank.
Explorer’s all-new Terrain Management System is available to help tackle various adventures, helping confirm its status as the ultimate family adventure vehicle. Or, as Cranston says in Journey Home, “It’s the SUV you think of when you think of an SUV.”