Ford Keeps the Heart of the Road Pumping in Spot from AMV BBDO

AMV BBDO’s new pan-European campaign for Ford centres on a spellbinding film that draws a visually stunning analogy between the automaker’s FORDLiive vehicle maintenance service and the human circulatory system. 

The film compares a business to the human heart and courier vans to the circulation of blood. When the red vans arrive on time the heart beats normally - when vans are reduced to a trickle, it slows and stops. But because FORDLiive keeps vans constantly on the road, the heartbeat of the business is soon beating healthier than ever when the vans return. 

We move inside the building, where the perfectly synchronised vans interweave in the aisles, while workers load them up and send them off, demonstrating FORDLiive in action.

FORDLiive marks a step change for fleet customers, introducing a world where vehicle health data can be used to predict and schedule maintenance so that vans don’t break down in the first place, keeping them on the road and working. 

The service brings together the connected vehicle, the customer, the dealer and Ford to identify, diagnose and quickly resolve any issues that may result in downtime – the third highest cost for running any fleet of vehicles. 

AMV BBDO’s campaign is targeted at businesses who run fleets of vans and will run across YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn. The social films are supported by personalised digital communications that target fleet managers at different stages of the customer journey. 

Martin Loraine, the film’s writer and Creative Director of Ford at AMV BBDO said: “Ford wanted to communicate the simple, human benefit of FORDLiive and bring to life how constantly moving vans are vital to making businesses thrive.”

Peter Zillig, marketing director, Ford of Europe, said: ‘We think of our vans as vital in the delivery mechanism of any healthy business. We were convinced by the creative as soon as we saw it and further engaged with Nikolai’s vision for the production.  This is the start of a completely new phase in our commercial vehicle communications; and we hope our customers enjoy the journey with us’.

Directed by Nicolai Fuglsig, from MJZ, the film was tightly choreographed, using toy vans to work out how the synchronised movement should work. The campaign was then shot in Madrid during lockdown in December 2020, filmed entirely by drone or helicopter to create dynamic scenes, with no static shots in the entire film. A bespoke composition by Mint Royale provides the soundtrack.