Ford Will Rock You in Epic 'Backbone of Britain' Spot

Electric Theatre Collective has lent its VFX talent to GTB’s latest ad for the Ford Transit: ‘Ford. The Backbone of Britain 2019’.

Created by GTB and directed by Mark Molloy at Smuggler, the epic 60-second spot, set to Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’, looks to shine a light on the wide range of Ford vans and pickups used in the daily lives of the country and the British workforce.

The ad shows the vast variety of small to medium businesses in their work lives, with Ford commercial vehicles the choice brand that serves as the beating heart of that infrastructure that keeps Britain moving. As the film builds to a crescendo the fleet of Ford vehicles on the bridge serves as a metaphor for the vertebrae in the backbone of Britain.

Mandy Dean, Ford of Britain marketing director said: “At Ford we are immensely proud of our commercial vehicle range which has led the UK market for 54 years. We are delighted to bring the brand once again to the fore as the backbone of Britain, proud to support the great men and women of UK business and the great work they do.”

“For over 50 years Ford Commercial Vehicles have been the trusted partner of the British workforce and we wanted to celebrate that partnership between Ford and the builders, electricians, engineers, delivery people, farmers, florists, bakers of Great Britain. They're the workforce of Britain and the Ford Commercial Vehicles are the backbone that keeps the country running,” said Dominic Moore, MD of GTB.

“We wanted to create an epic ode to the workers of Britain, the work they do, and the vehicles they rely on every day to get the job done. A united force, if you like, driving the country forward,” added Paul Yull and Adrian Birkenshaw, executive creative directors at GTB. 

Jon Purton, producer at Electric Theatre said: “This job is one of those satisfying ‘invisible FX jobs’. With so many locations and vehicles there was plenty for us to tidy up. Whilst the team had access to a small fleet of cars on set, they relied on us to generate awesome scale by creating a host of photo-real CG vehicles. We had a blast and are really happy with the end result.”