Ford: Built Ford Proud by Wieden+Kennedy New York

Wieden+Kennedy New York has unveiled its first campaign as Ford’s official innovation partner – a cinematic, capitalist tribute to American manufacturing that pokes fun at Silicon Valley’s penchant for talking in platitudes.

W+K was appointed to the brief back in August while the brand’s creative agency review was ongoing. Last week the network was announced as Ford’s official innovation partner, while BBDO scooped lead creative in a blow to WPP.

W+K’s debut is of blockbuster proportions, starring Hollywood movie star Bryan Cranston in a multitude of cinematic scenarios. He appears as an omnipotent tech guru, a politician, a Nasa scientist and even a robot.

Throughout the film he explains that humanity’s future has never been created by ideas, or by talking, but through welding, construction and building.

“Let the other guys keep dreaming about the future,” he concludes, driving through the desert. “We’ll be the ones building it.”

The multichannel campaign’s premise is captured in its tagline: ‘Built Ford Proud’. Its central spot, ‘The Future is Built’, is accompanied by two additional films: a country and western ode to trucking and a 30-second exploration of Ford’s blue oval logo.

The campaign will also run across print and digital, launching this weekend (20 October) and continuing to run throughout 2019.