Doug, the Orange Spokespuppet

Team members: Toby Barlow - Chief Creative Director, Scott Lange - Executive Creative Director, Stuart O'Neil - Group Creative Director, Stephanie Kohnen - Art Director, Adam Burkett - Senior Copywriter, Colin Padden - Account Director, Amy Barnes - Senior Experiential Brand Strategist, Scott Goebel - Director of Social Strategy, Pam Marzolf - Online Advertising Campaign Manager, Melissa Henwood - Senior Digital Media Planner, Raj Gill - Digital Media Lead, Ryan McCarthy - Social Media Community Advocate

About this entry

Our challenge was to assimilate our target’s internet culture in the hopes of starting a conversation with them about the all-new Ford Focus. We enlisted directors Paul Feig of "Bridesmaids" and "The Office" as well as Rob Cohen of "The Simpsons" to help us create entraining content our target would find engaging. Each video featured the opposite of what you’d expect from Ford, an Orange Spokespuppet named Doug. Partnered with straight man, John, the Ford Marketing Specialist, our comedic duo showcased the Ford Focus and it’s features in entertaining ways. We then released the videos to Youtube weekly. However, the bulk of the campaign took place on Doug and John’s Facebook and Twitter pages where our characters would respond to fans comments and questions all day, every day for seven months straight.

The case for why this entry should win a Shorty

Our spokespuppet deserves to win the category because it was an excellent example of investment in great content returning word-of-mouth divedends. We were able to teach people a little about a complex new product while keeping them entertained enough to come back for more. We interrupted a negative conversation, and created a positive one.