To reach Millennials through the lens of nostalgia, we chose to take a beloved anime series—Dragonball Z—and overdub the original animations with new vocals. Using the original voice actors, we poked fun at the absurdity of traditional advertising by making our anime characters talk unabashedly about the features of the Ford Focus and Ford Fusion. We were in on the joke—and we let the audience join in the laugh, too. By being flamboyant with the message about our product and coupling it with the overt drama of the anime series, we aligned ourselves with something Millennials love most: irony.

A series of 2 pre-roll ads using clips featuring the most beloved characters and themes from Dragon Ball Z, overdubbed, using the original voice talent no less, with key features of the Ford Focus and Ford Fusion vehicles. We targeted in- and near-market millennials who were interested in the Focus and Fusion categories. We also targeted against cartoon/anime affinity audiences for that extra boost of relevancy.

The results were extraordinary. Despite limitations (the videos were US only), fans shared and reposted the preroll, garnering global interest from fans and the media, who generated nearly 90 articles about the ads.

We saw over 6.1M views during the 2 week flight, with an average 41% of those views coming from earned reach. And those views delivered, with awareness up 4 points for Focus and 9 for Fusion, a 6 point jump in familiarity for Fusion and a 2 point lift in consideration across both models. Finally, the two ads together delivered an incremental 78K shoppers into the Ford funnel.

Additionally, sentiment was very strong, scoring 4 out of a possible 5. Fans loved the mash-up of Ford and DBZ. To quote one commenter: “I’m not a huge fan of Ford but their new DBZ ads are awesome! I might have to take a closer look.”. We agree.