New York, NY -- International visual effects, design and brand communications company Gravity, led by in-house Director & Creative Director Yuval Levy, just completed a new, five-spot campaign promoting Ford’s 2013 F-Series Trucks. Working in tandem with Ford’s advertising agency, Team Detroit, Gravity produced a fresh approach to the iconic “Rant” campaign featuring the rapid-fire voice-over of actor/comedian Denis Leary. The new campaign just broke.
Another new Gravity-produced spot will begin to air nationally in October.
Team Detroit retained Gravity to help create a new approach to the well-known Denis Leary “Rant” spots, which have been highly effective in promoting Ford Trucks since the 2009 model year.
The new spots Gravity produced highlight the fuel efficiency and capability of the 2013 F-150 and Super Duty pickups. Gravity’s director Yuval Levy directed four days of live action photography on location shooting six Ford truck models on various locations in the California desert.
Regarding Gravity’s work, Gravity’s CEO/Chief Creative Officer Zviah Eldar said, “When we were asked to work with Team Detroit on their legendary Ford F-150 & Super Duty campaign, we were thrilled. The campaign was pitched against very stiff industry competition over more than two months. We fought hard for this opportunity. This enormous project involved every facet of our company, from the concept behind the ‘look and feel,’ to live action production, editorial, motion graphics and visual effects. Our design teams spent a great deal of time on these spots, to ensure they presented Ford’s 2013 product line in a truly unique and highly artistic fashion. We feel we rose to the challenge.”
Gravity’s CMO/Executive Producer Bob Samuel adds, “Yuval worked closely with Team Detroit Creative Director Paul Kirner and Senior Art Director Beth Hambly. Together, the three really championed the use of positive-negative space for this campaign, which in turn led to dozens of images, each illustrating various aspects of the product. Yuval then had to solve the riddle of bringing the design to motion and creating transitions between disparate images. It was an intricate puzzle which Yuval nailed with amazing results.”
Team Detroit Creative Director Brad Hensen said, "We were looking for a distinct visual change in the campaign, but we also wanted it to feel reminiscent of the original work for the ’09 F-150. Because of the campaign’s media weight, we needed the spots to be very re-watchable.” Senior writer Sue Mersch said, “We want viewers to see something new each time they see the spots.” “To that end, the scene transitions had to be interesting and clever. Gravity and Yuval really stepped up to that challenge. We're very pleased with the results," Hensen added.
Levy said, “The agency CD’s Brad & Paul, their creative team Sue & Beth, and Producer Bob Rashid were real partners throughout the whole process. We worked together for months in development, and had the full support of Team Detroit’s Chief Creative Officer Toby Barlow, Executive Creative Director Curtis Melville, and all the guys at Ford. It was a unique and gratifying experience for me designing, directing the live action, and supervising our team on an intense finishing schedule. I also think the experience and calm of Gravity Producer Russ Dube kept things on an even keel.”
Gravity produced three additional spots for Ford’s annual retail truck sales promotion, the “Built Ford Tough Event” broke on September 4th. Team Detroit’s Paul Zimmerman, Jac Manseur and Bob Rashid worked with Yuval and his team at Gravity. These additional spots are football-themed, and also utilize the positive-negative space concept to support a month-long truck promotion.
Source: Gravity