Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. has unveiled what it calls its largest launch advertising campaign ever to promote the introduction next week of its redesigned F-150 pickup truck.

The new F-150 may look like a pickup but Ford designed the 2004 model as a crossover vehicle whose options can make it as luxurious as a German sedan -- and cost almost as much.

"This truck will make customers rethink what a truck should be," said Jack Turner, F-150 brand manager.

The company is hoping to capture a much wider range of buyers, including more women and urban dwellers with the campaign, designed by the Toronto office of Young & Rubicam Inc., its long-standing advertising agency.

Ford knew it had to spend heavily to introduce a major redesign of the powerhouse brand into a market crowded with other pickups, sport utility vehicles and crossover vehicles from both domestic and foreign manufacturers, said Dean Tesser, Ford Canada's director of marketing communications.

The six-week campaign will cover all media, including TV, radio, print and the Internet. It will also make use of a 30-minute infomercial, billboards, point-of-sale displays, and 300,000 personal invitations to potential buyers to attend the Sept. 25 dealership launch.

The cost of the campaign is a closely guarded secret, but "this is a very important launch for Ford," Mr. Tesser said.

The first TV spots started last week, to build anticipation well in advance of the truck's public launch. The other domestic car makers do not launch their fall campaigns until October or November, giving Ford a healthy head start.

The television ads depart from the traditional style of truck ads by emphasizing quiet luxury. There are no guys in hard hats and no trucks bouncing across the ranch.

"Can we still use the name truck?" intones the voice of Canadian film star Kiefer Sutherland.

The TV spots are reminiscent of Mercedes-Benz advertisements, a point that Chris McGroarty, vice-president and group creative director for Young & Rubicam, concedes.

The first TV spot opens with a headlight and swings over to show a shiny black hood with beautifully polished paint. It then zooms in on a plush leather interior and backs up to show that the vehicle pictured is the F-150, not the luxury sedan that the ad suggests.

Another ad claims that Ford's interior noise level is only 63 decibels, quieter than an unnamed luxury sedan, while a third emphasizes safety and luxury.

Ford felt it had to go with a new style of ad to introduce a new style of vehicle. "We couldn't go any further with the old style of ad," said Gary Holme, group creative director for Young & Rubicam in Toronto. "They became a contest of torque and pulling power. There was always something bigger."

"We needed to challenge the status quo," Mr. Tesser added. "We had to redefine truck advertising."

The new television ads retain a few traditional elements to remind buyers that this is a working vehicle. They retain the tag line "built tough," and they show a pickup skidding to a halt, with the sound of a whinnying horse in the background. There's even a shot of a crane picking up the vehicle by four bolts in the truck bed.

But that's where the "built tough" tradition ends. The new tag line is "Rethink truck."

The campaign was designed solely for Canada because it is a different market than the United States, Mr. Tesser said. Canadians buy pickups as their primary vehicle, he said, while Americans tend to use pickups for utilitarian purposes only.

"It's a work vehicle and a family vehicle," Mr. Tesser said.

The campaign even ties in with McDonald's Restaurants of Canada Ltd., another first, Mr. Tesser said. The co-production will give away 10 full-sized trucks, thousands of toys and millions of French fry envelopes labelled with the Ford brand name.

That aspect of the campaign emphasizes that Ford -- like McDonald's -- has a place in every community in Canada, Mr. Tesser said.