Ford Motor Company is about to launch its most aggressive Snapchat ad campaign to-date, centered around the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There’s just one catch: Ford, not being an official sponsor, is not permitted to use any of the Olympic Committee’s protected phrases.
According to Automotive News, the campaign will feature the 2017 Ford Escape crossover (pictured), and will consist of more than thirty 10-second Snap ads. The spots will be unmistakably Olympic-themed, without encroaching upon the Committee’s restrictions. For example, one ad will show a man doing a pommel horse routine on top of the redesigned, 2017 Ford Escape.
The campaign will be an extension of Ford’s recent string of Escape ads which feature the phrase: “Life is a Sport. We are the Utility.”
Automotive News reports that Ford is being so cautious with regard to the US Olympic Committee’s list of protected phrases that Digital Marketing Manager Lisa Schoder didn’t so much as use the word “Olympic” at any point during a recent interview. She said that the automaker is “being very mindful of the different regulations and guidelines about what advertisers can do in this space… Ford would never do anything in a malicious manner. We want to make sure we are mindful of that.”
At the same time, she says the company is always “paying attention to what is going in culture,” and every two years, the Olympic Games become a major part of our global culture.
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Ford Mustangs are great cars.
My next car will be a Mustang GT.