To reveal Ford’s new off-road performance truck, the Raptor R, we tapped into the universal desire to feel scared—so we created a horror film. 

 

The biggest product story of the Raptor R was its V-8 700 HP engine. But what does that mean outside of truck enthusiast circles? Not much. So we asked ourselves: for the average person, what would it feel like to drive a Raptor R? It would be thrilling, yes. But more than that, it would be objectively terrifying. From that answer came an interesting truth – that it’s not only great to feel scared every once in a while, it’s a feeling worth seeking out every now and again. 

 

That’s why we ride roller coasters, willingly jump from high places, or pack into theaters to scream in front of strangers. 

 

Our idea, ’Scary Fast’, was built on that truth. Instead of just educating a niche audience on a new product, we’d try to bring that frightening feeling to a mainstream one.

 

Taking inspiration from Grindhouse horror films, we shot a faux horror film in the Utah badlands. We teased the film with OOH poster installations before dropping it in theaters in the trailers of Jordan Peele’s “NOPE”, as well as on YouTube. We also created merch to engage fans on Ford’s social channels. We even took it a step further and created backseat barf bags (because it goes that fast) and owners manual slipcovers to mimic horror novels.

 

The campaign was a hit, getting attention far beyond the normal truck enthusiast audience. The film was viewed over 16 million times on TikTok (22 million total views) in addition to over 110 million impressions across all channels. Perhaps most impressively, 130K people visited the ‘Scary Fast’ page to learn more about a truck they wouldn’t have known about with a little fear.