This was my first client as a creative lead. Everything I did for them was a labor of love that required me to use all my creative wit and people skills that I had honed. The Desert group had a big problem. Ford wasn’t selling as well as it could in the Southwest region. That was true until our strategic, focused creative efforts propelled the region to become the nation’s sales leader.

We collaborated honestly and did something that had never been done before. We made a brand campaign that also served as a retail marketing campaign. A series that looked like their backyard and spoke to their residents, but fit into the national brand campaign like a nesting doll of ownable concepts.

From an aspirational continuity campaign titled Designed for the Desert. Featuring desert-focused vehicles and packages, package-specific KPIs, and regional stories that showcased their target demographics, local flora, and RTBs. To shooting running footage and B-roll for post-production and major seasonal promotions such as the Labor Day and Memorial Day Sales Event. We did it all as a skeleton crew for less than $400,000.

The following year, we kept going, expanding the regional campaign to include all their top-performing vehicles with unique desert narratives, updated the entire product library, and added digital for under a million.

Then, separately but simultaneously, we leveraged the NFL x Ford partnership and crafted a campaign for the Arizona Cardinals based on a print ad we made earlier titled Best in the Nest. 

All in all, it was money well spent and produced a trickle-up effect. It got Detroit’s attention and prompted Ford to change its approach to include the desert region in its advertising.

Agency: GTB