Like Steve McQueen....

[Sonic dB]

http://www.detnews.com/2004/autosinsider/0410/14/b01-303194.htm

McQueen, Mustang ride again

New Ford ad uses digital wizardry, hands keys to Steve McQueen of 'Bullitt' fame.

By Eric Mayne / The Detroit News



Ford brings Steve McQueen back to life using a body double.


Related reports

Review of the 2005 Ford Mustang GT
Preview: All-new Mustang recaptures spirit of seminal pony car


Comment on this story
Send this story to a friend
Get Home Delivery


If you build it, they will come.

But will they buy?


2005 Mustang

Celebrating 40 years of Mustangs

Collector Mustangs

Ford Motor Co. expects to get the answer next month when a new Mustang television commercial begins airing. The ad is an homage to the tear-jerking 1989 movie "Field of Dreams," in which Kevin Costner portrays a dreamer who conjures the spirits of Shoeless Joe Jackson and other baseball players when he builds a playing field on his farm.

In Ford's commercial, a farmer builds a winding racetrack, which he circles in the 2005 Mustang, due in showrooms next month. And out of the cornfield comes Steve McQueen, the late screen star famous for driving a Mustang in the 1968 action flick "Bullitt."

The farmer then tosses his keys to McQueen, whose likeness is created by a body double and some digital editing wizardry. The spot ends with McQueen driving off in the new Mustang.

Mustang enthusiasts have been buzzing for days on Internet chat rooms about the high-concept commercial. Ford confirmed the accuracy of the storyline described on the Internet.

Marketing experts say the Ford ad is pushing the right buttons because the McQueen legend and the Mustang evoke fond memories for movie-goers and car buffs alike. "It's a very positive association," said Wes Brown, a partner in the California consulting firm NexTrend.

The Mustang commercial is part of a comprehensive marketing effort Ford is launching today to generate some excitement about the blue oval brand.

Ford is dumping the current slogan for its namesake marque: "If you haven't looked at Ford lately, look again." Some inside the company believed the tagline was apologetic and ineffective.

The Dearborn automaker is counting on a strong start for a passel of new models to bolster sales and put an end to a long market share slump. The Ford brand is on track to drop to 16.6 percent of the U.S. market in 2004, its ninth consecutive year of decline. Through September, Ford's total car sales were down 13.5 percent compared to last year.

The brand also has increased its fourth-quarter advertising budget to $170 million, about 50 percent more than was spent during the final three months of 2003.

Using computer trickery to transcend the passage of time isn't new to commercials. Ten years after his death in 1987, Fred Astaire's image was featured in an acclaimed TV ad that showed him dancing with a Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner.

"If it's executed properly and well, it can be a very effective tool," NexTrend's Brown said.

The Mustang commercial was conceived by Detroit-based J. Walter Thompson and shot by Believe Media, an international production company whose clients have included Coca Cola Ltd., Nike and McDonald's.

Marrying McQueen's image to the commercial's live-action content took more than six weeks of preparation and post-production computer work, said Katie Matson, an Ann Arbor native who is creative coordinator at Believe.

"It is as if Steve McQueen is back to life," Matson said. "It is very real. This is a very seamless edit."

McQueen died of lung cancer in 1980. But Paul Street, who directed the Mustang commercial and did a similar treatment of McQueen for a Ford of Europe product launch in 1997, dismisses any suggestion that the commercial is exploiting an iconic American image.

"I hope for those who don't know the legacy, that this spot will inspire a new generation to visit McQueen's extraordinary body of work and (appreciate) his passion for automobiles," Street said in a statement.

Ford secured the rights to McQueen's likeness from the actor's estate for an undisclosed sum. Ford also was required to obtain the rights to use images from "Bullitt" and "Field of Dreams."

The commercial was shot in Chilliwack, British Columbia, located about 60 miles east of Vancouver. The site is popular with filmmakers because of its picturesque setting and the Canadian dollar's favorable exchange rate.

Earlier this year, the area served as a backdrop for a Volkswagen Touareg commercial.

Believe Media shot the Mustang spot over a two-week period in mid-summer, on a 360-acre farm owned by David and Fran Vander Kooi.

"It was really hectic at times, but it was really worth the experience," said David Vander Kooi, 42, adding that the operation took on a Canadian flavor when the film crew used local livestock as extras and hired area residents to do odd jobs.

"They used our neighbor's chickens, our nephew was working in the art department and the neighbor boys did some corn planting and transplanting," he said.

Cut from a 75-acre cornfield, the track was modeled after Willow Springs International Raceway, about 65 miles northeast of Santa Clarita, Calif. So meticulous was the film crew that some ears of corn were hand-placed.

Vander Kooi didn't drive the Mustang, but he still managed to have some fun before the 3/4-mile loop was torn up and his field was returned to its natural state.

"We rented go-karts," he said.

Still, Vander Kooi saw enough of the redesigned Mustang to form an impression.

"It's a cool car," he said. "We loved it."

While he wouldn't disclose how much money he received as compensation, Vander Kooi didn't deny that for two weeks, his little piece of Chilliwack was a field of dreams.

"Just to see how a movie's made is quite an experience," he said. "It was really neat."

[layzee]

Ford ran an ad in the UK where McQueen drives a Ford Puma around SF instead of his 'stang. Yeah, right.

[Overpaid Slacker]

I definitely want to see the ad, but it shoulda been Porsche that used such a high-concept McQueen bit. Dang.

JP