New Ford Explorer Meets Crazy Kevin

The reinvented SUV needs a reinvented way of advertising, American manufacturer Ford must have thought when dreaming up the new marketing campaign for the Explorer. Building, as usual, on the successful Fiesta campaign from two years ago, the new Ford advertising push will center on the SUV itself and on actor Kevin Hart.

Hart's face stamped to the side of the SUV will be seen, in a short while, all over: TV ads, print, radio and digital executions. The idea behind the campaign is to present one of the key features found in the Explorer in a comedic approach.

“With this campaign, we are using comedy as a way to engage and encourage consumers to learn more about the Ford Explorer,” said Shawn Lollie, Ford manager, Multicultural Marketing.

“Since the launch of the Explorer on Facebook last July, Ford has been using unique ways to talk to consumers. We wanted to create a campaign that would follow this same strategy while also adding an unexpected twist of comedy using one of the most popular and authentic comedians of today.”

Starting with the first appearance on BET during The Game show, the campaign, titled Crazy Kevin and created by The UniWorld Group, Ford’s African American advertising agency of record, will soon engulf TV One, NCC, TBS, Black Enterprise, Sister 2 Sister Magazine, Ebony, ESSENCE, Jet, Upscale, Uptown and Rolling Out.

“We are constantly looking for unique ways to introduce our product to our target consumer,” added Lollie. “This campaign is a real testament to how you can creatively use comedy to appeal to your target consumers while simultaneously introducing them to the unique features of a new product.”