PUEBLO, Colo. ― For 12 years Ford Motor Co. has been the title sponsor of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Built Ford Tough Series. During the 2014 PBR BFTS season, Ford introduced its Good Works campaign to celebrate those who use their Ford trucks to benefit their communities. Ford and Team Detroit were recognized as Gold winners of the PRO Awards Best Cause-Based Campaign for the Built Ford Tough Good Works program.
The PRO Awards recognizes outstanding promotion marketing campaigns. The awards, now in their 25th year, are the preeminent benchmark for excellence in innovation and creativity that produce stellar results. The winning campaigns were selected by a jury of expert peers.
“The Good Works program was one of the most successful campaigns ever executed by one of our corporate partners,” PBR EVP, Sales and Partnerships Terry Bassett said. “Ford has been a very supportive partner for more than a decade and we’re honored to be the center of an initiative that brought them such recognition. We’d like to congratulate them on their ‘good work’.”
Brendon Clark, an 11-year veteran of the PBR, was a big part of the Good Works program as he drove across the country meeting truck owners who volunteer for a variety of causes, from helping the homeless to rescuing horses. Ten individuals were singled out as the subjects of 90-second videos that were posted on YouTube and aired on CBS during PBR broadcasts. Each video included the Ford.com/goodworks URL. Visitors to the site could enter for a chance to win a 2014 Ford F-150 pickup, a trip to Las Vegas for the Built Ford Tough PBR World Finals, and $25,000 to the charity of their choice.
Signage and Jumbotron videos at PBR events, digital banners on PBR.com, and social media on behalf of both PBR and Ford Trucks helped promote the sweepstakes. In addition, at each PBR event, fans could buy a Good Works flying disc for $1, which would support the Rider Relief Fund’s efforts to help wounded bull riders with medical bills. During intermission, fans could toss their discs in an attempt to land them into the bed of a Ford F-150 parked in the center of the arena floor; those who succeeded won a Built Ford Tough vest signed by the PBR’s top 35 bull riders. To cap off the 10-month campaign, the intermission at the televised, sold-out PBR World Finals in Las Vegas featured a video recap of the featured volunteers and the live presentation of the sweepstakes winner. Adding an element of surprise, the volunteer who presented the sweepstakes award was given a new Ford pickup of her own.
The Good Works videos received more than 16.6 million impressions from CBS broadcasts and were viewed by 540,000 event attendees. This in turn led to what some might say was the greatest payoff of all: increased awareness and aid for the causes of the 10 featured volunteers.
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