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Ford Motor Co. is producing more movies for the Internet after its "Meet the Lucky Ones" online flick -- about the misadventures of a quirky, dysfunctional family -- enticed droves of young, female buyers into its Mercury Mariner SUV over the past year.
On Monday, the automaker unveiled two Web-only movies that subtly pitch new products: "Lovely by Surprise," which promotes the new Lincoln Zephyr sedan, and "The Neverything," for the Mercury Milan sedan.
While Ford bills them as "webisodes," which will run as a serial, about two to five minutes each for five weeks, the pieces are actually sophisticated commercials. The Lincoln and Mercury vehicles are subtly built into the movies, with unobtrusive product placement.
The movies can be found at www.lovelybysurprise.com and www.theneverything.com, and will preview an upcoming, yet-to-be named full-length feature film, written and directed by Kirt Gunn. He also directed "Meet the Lucky Ones," which helped launch the Mariner SUV in 2004 and was named one of the top 10 ad campaigns that year by Adweek magazine.
The average age of the Mariner buyer is now 15 years younger than the average overall Mercury customer. About 57% of Mariner customers are female, compared to 39% for all of Mercury. And half of the Mariner buyers turned in other brands to buy their new Mercury.
"This has really brought in a new customer, which is very compelling," said Kim Irwin, Mercury brand manager.
Irwin would not say how much the marketing project is costing Ford, but she said the first project was successful enough to see how strong a medium these Web movies might be to pitch future products.
The automaker, she said, is trying to find ways to deliver compelling online content to reach the booming number of Internet users. The use of broadband access, which makes Web movies convenient to watch, is expected to explode from 55% of Internet users today to 78%, or 69 million households, by 2010, according to Ford estimates.
The two new movies are different but interconnected, telling the story of an author whose fiction overtakes her real life
The movie for Mercury is quirky and about discovery, in line with the brand's desired image of being modern and stylish. The brand's tag line is "New Doors Opened."
The Neverything is an offbeat tale about the life of two brothers who lead a childlike existence, living on a houseboat in the middle of a field, eating milk and cereal. One brother, though, wants to discover more about what life has to offer.
The Lincoln serial, meanwhile, is about fulfilling dreams, which coincides with the brand's "Reach Higher" motto. In "Lovely by Surprise," a brilliant novelist named Marian Walker seeks out help for her novel, about the two brothers in the Neverything, from an old flame and mentor.
Y&R and Wunderman Detroit, which are the advertising agencies for Lincoln and Mercury, worked with Gunn to understand the brands. But Gunn was given creative control over the final movies.
Despite the fact the movies were commissioned and fully funded by Ford, Gunn characterizes the works in a Ford news release as "the very essence of independent film."
On Monday, the automaker unveiled two Web-only movies that subtly pitch new products: "Lovely by Surprise," which promotes the new Lincoln Zephyr sedan, and "The Neverything," for the Mercury Milan sedan.
While Ford bills them as "webisodes," which will run as a serial, about two to five minutes each for five weeks, the pieces are actually sophisticated commercials. The Lincoln and Mercury vehicles are subtly built into the movies, with unobtrusive product placement.
The movies can be found at www.lovelybysurprise.com and www.theneverything.com, and will preview an upcoming, yet-to-be named full-length feature film, written and directed by Kirt Gunn. He also directed "Meet the Lucky Ones," which helped launch the Mariner SUV in 2004 and was named one of the top 10 ad campaigns that year by Adweek magazine.
The average age of the Mariner buyer is now 15 years younger than the average overall Mercury customer. About 57% of Mariner customers are female, compared to 39% for all of Mercury. And half of the Mariner buyers turned in other brands to buy their new Mercury.
"This has really brought in a new customer, which is very compelling," said Kim Irwin, Mercury brand manager.
Irwin would not say how much the marketing project is costing Ford, but she said the first project was successful enough to see how strong a medium these Web movies might be to pitch future products.
The automaker, she said, is trying to find ways to deliver compelling online content to reach the booming number of Internet users. The use of broadband access, which makes Web movies convenient to watch, is expected to explode from 55% of Internet users today to 78%, or 69 million households, by 2010, according to Ford estimates.
The two new movies are different but interconnected, telling the story of an author whose fiction overtakes her real life
The movie for Mercury is quirky and about discovery, in line with the brand's desired image of being modern and stylish. The brand's tag line is "New Doors Opened."
The Neverything is an offbeat tale about the life of two brothers who lead a childlike existence, living on a houseboat in the middle of a field, eating milk and cereal. One brother, though, wants to discover more about what life has to offer.
The Lincoln serial, meanwhile, is about fulfilling dreams, which coincides with the brand's "Reach Higher" motto. In "Lovely by Surprise," a brilliant novelist named Marian Walker seeks out help for her novel, about the two brothers in the Neverything, from an old flame and mentor.
Y&R and Wunderman Detroit, which are the advertising agencies for Lincoln and Mercury, worked with Gunn to understand the brands. But Gunn was given creative control over the final movies.
Despite the fact the movies were commissioned and fully funded by Ford, Gunn characterizes the works in a Ford news release as "the very essence of independent film."
