Mustang Sallies Onto Dish

Ford Motor Co. is launching an interactive-ad campaign on EchoStar Communications Corp.'s Dish Network that will allow viewers to “test-drive” the 2007 Ford Mustang.

The campaign will run through mid-July. Developed by Dish, which has almost 12 million interactive subscribers, and Turner Media Group it will showcase the new Mustang, which comes out of the automaker this summer.

The interactive ad, or “i-Ad,” features more than 15 screens to reveal styles, colors and accessories for the car, including the coupe, convertible and pony package. The i-Ad also gives viewers a first look at Ford's other 2007 sedans: Fusion, Five Hundred, Freestyle and Focus.

Ford's comprehensive interactive-TV campaign consists of 30-second TV spots scheduled to run across dozens of cable networks that can link viewers via an on-screen pop-up message, or “trigger” to an i-Ad or Web-like environment on their satellite TV.

Viewers can use their TV remote to request a free ring tone that sounds like a Mustang engine or wallpaper for the viewer's mobile phone — a first among ITV ads; view a gallery of photos of the Mustang and Ford sedan series; request a brochure for any Ford model; locate a local dealership; and enter the Ford iAd through banners on the Dish Home shopping portals or by interacting with a Mustang television spot.

Dish previously collaborated with Ford and Turner Media on a 2005 interactive-TV campaign for the Explorer model.