According to Crystal Worthem, the Multicultural Marketing Manager of Ford Motor Co., celebrities like Queen Latifah,
Nelly, Funk Master Flex and others are involved in campaigns pitching Ford
vehicles because they actually identify with the products. She says
that the old model was to “go to celebrities, pay them an inordinate
amount of money and say, ‘hey, make my brand cool!’ ”
Now, says Worthem, celebrities often find brands that they think are
cool and reach out to the marketer. “For example,” she continues, “we
came out with the Ford Flex last year and when we had it at certain
events, Nelly approached us and said, ‘I want that! What do I do to get
that vehicle?’ We worked with him, had one customized for him … [and] had a
really great time with him and that relationship.
Queen Latifah had a song coming out called “Fast Cars.” so, while she didn’t actually contact
Ford, knowing about her love of fast cars made it a natural to extend
an invitation to her to connect with the launch of the new Mustang
model.
“We weren’t looking to just get a relationship with her [and]
slap her on an ad, but do something with her that was really fun … she
had the chance to actually test and race with a race car driver in a
new Mustang. So, that’s something that she loves to do. She loves to
bike and she loves fast cars, so it was great thing where we could do
something to let her unleash her ‘Mustang side,’ ” says Worthem.
In a testament to the broad reach of Queen Latifah’s
brand, Worthem shared that she was selected to target women in general, not just black women.
“A lot of the buyers of Mustang are female,
so we wanted to do something that would resonate with females across
the board. So this wasn’t just looking for the urban female … when
we looked at who resonates with females in general, Queen Latifah
continues to be somebody that everybody [relates] to. They see her, they
respect her, they think she’s beautiful and a lot of the things that
she is involved with, they are influenced by. So, Queen Latifah was an easy fit,” says Worthem.
–stanley yorker
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