Ford’s newest short film centers around the Mustang Mafia, a New Orleans community of Ford Mustang fanatics who have created a community for “a bunch of good dudes with a bunch of bad cars.”
Ford Motor Company in partnership with Wieden+Kennedy New York have created Welcome To The Club, Ford’s flagship foray into human-first storytelling. Episode one of Welcome To The Club is the first short film for the new narrative-led editorial platform for Ford Motor Company. It will specifically call out the stories of the people, the passion and the purpose that drives Ford enthusiasts. Welcome To The Club introduces Bert Groves, a New Orleans community icon and leader of any Ford Mustang enthusiast’s dream club, Mustang Mafia.
The film showcases Groves' inspirations when starting the club, which counts over 300 Mustang owners in its ranks, and his philanthropic desire to feed the homeless. While giving back and engaging with the community is a large aspect of the Mustang Mafia, the invisible string tying all of these members together is their love for the Ford Mustang.
Jared Malik Royal of RSA Films directed the film and brought to life a story focused around humanity and community, while also ensuring New Orleans was a central character of the film. Beautiful textural and meditative shots of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway are placed between burnouts and high speed dyno shots. The film’s soundtrack is from New Orleans native Curren$y and his producer Black Metaphor.
The film culminates with a sweet gifting moment where Groves and Mustang Mafia donate an older Mustang to a local high school’s auto program. They not only provided the blank canvas, but money for the parts and resources it would require to fix the car up. The Mafia also surprised the high school and rolled up, 50 cars deep. Groves was also in for a surprise when the team behind the film presented him with a limited-edition Settlemier’s Jackets made founder’s jacket.
The focus of Ford’s newest editorial franchise is to celebrate and recognize the people behind the wheel. The film will live on Ford’s U.S organic social media channels: YouTube, YTShorts, Meta (IG & FB), X, Threads, and TikTok.
Credits
Client Ford Motor Company Jess Muir, social media content and strategy lead. Agency W+K New York Jiah Choi, president; Marques Gartrell, chief creative officers; Eric Helin, Stuart Jennings, executive creative directors; Dan Peters, Reef Younis, creative directors; Dylan Simel, art director; Nickolas Sugai, copywriter; Nick Setounski, head of production; Jessica Griffeth, executive producer; Jake Freeman, sr. producer; Zachary Winterton, designer; Erica Remmele, studio artist; Alix Toothman, group strategy director; Caroline Tseng, group social strategy director; Darren Wong, strategist. Production RSA Films Jared Malik Royal, director; Rivers Cahee, co-writer; Luke Ricci, president/exec producer; Matilde Ramos Pinto, exec producer; Jeremy Blum, line producer; Natalie Orsi, production coordinator; Danyal Niazi, DP. Editorial Final Cut Matt Carter, editor; Kaylin Smida, assistant editor; Michael Wadsworth, Laura Mirabella, post producers; Sarah Roebuck, post exec producer. Color RareMedium Mikey Rossiter, colorist; Heath Raymond, sr. color producer. Music Jet Life Recordings Title: “Stoned on Ocean” from artist/writer Curren$y. Music Company Black Cloud Music Group, EJ2, Motif, titles; Black Metaphor, artist/writer. Sound Design/Mix Machine Sound Alex Bingham, engineer; Chantelle Donovan, Nicole Watlington, assistant engineers; Matej Oreskovic, exec producer; Andi Lewis, producer.
Director Gia Coppola Teams With Mejuri For “A New York Minute”; 1st Episode Takes Us To The Grocery Store
Mejuri, known for turning fine jewelry into an everyday luxury, has partnered with director Gia Coppola (The Last Show Girl, Palo Alto) and The Directors Bureau in Los Angeles, for the first time reimagining the brandโs story as episodic content. In a series of microfilms, co-created by Coppola and premiering following New York Fashion Week, Mejuri eschewed a typical celebrity campaign and cast us as voyeurs to a group of aspiring young women--real people, not actors--at the crossroads of their adult lives against the backdrop of New York City.
Titled โA New York Minute,โ the series features five real-life friends, who include one perfectly imperfect heroine named Emma. The women celebrate ordinary moments and interactions which reveal, sometimes retrospectively, the extraordinary within the mundane. Adjacent to the brandโs own community, the 30-something year old cast includes Laura Love (Emma), Rebecca Ressler, Natalie Vall-Freed and Rozzi Crane. Mejuriโs jewelry makes an appearance as the best supporting actor.
โWhen I met with Gia and The Directors Bureau team, there was instant creative and personal chemistry and a natural alignment on the desire to push and blur the lines between marketing, storytelling, and the construct of what a โcampaignโ could be,โ said Jacob Jordan, chief brand officer, Mejuri. โGia was able to push that idea into something that truly feels new and artful, with a realism and relatability that almost feels jarring. Gia was such a perfect collaborator and partner, someone I had complete trust in to be a catalyst for Mejuriโs values of celebrating women as their truest selves. I canโt wait for us to continue to tell the next chapters of this story.โ
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