• by Tanya Gazdik , April 12, 2026

Mazda is taking a comprehensive approach to marketing the CX-5 compact crossover SUV—and it’s paying off, according to campaign metrics.

The effort, led by Mazda's AOR, WPP agency VML which collaborated with Disney Creativeworks, features five short films plus a trailer, each showcasing a different side of the CX-5 and its customer.

The 60-second, movie trailer–inspired “5 Sides of the All-New CX-5” debuted during the 98th Academy Awards, aligning the CX-5 launch with one of film’s biggest cultural moments.

The goal is to attract new customers by leveraging the CX-5 as Mazda’s top-selling vehicle, says Brad Audet, CMO of Mazda North American Operations.

In May, Mazda will roll out a custom ad selector unit across CTV platforms HBO Max and Hulu, allowing viewers to choose which genre spot they want to watch. The aim is to drive deeper engagement through a more personalized experience.

“The target customer for CX-5 leans more female,” Audet tells Marketing Daily. “She’s multidimensional and wears a lot of different hats. We leaned into that idea to bring a fresh perspective to a highly crowded segment where the conversation typically centers on versatility.”

The full video series is available on YouTube and also on Mazda's website. The trailer alone has generated more than 3.5 million views. Each of the five films runs between two and five minutes, with shorter cutdowns also in circulation.

Each film stars actress Jessamie Waldon-Day and is directed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Paul Hunter ("Shame," "Government Cheese," "Bulletproof Monk"). Cinematography is led by Academy Award–winning director of photography Hoyte Van Hoytema ("Interstellar," "Dunkirk," "Oppenheimer"), lending each film a cinematic aesthetic that evolves with its genre.

“Across the launch, we created roughly 400 assets,” Audet says. “That includes traditional production tied to the trailer and genre films, along with AI-driven assets—either derivatives or product-focused pieces—designed to cover the full funnel. Algorithm management across social platforms is critical, and you have to stay ahead of creative fatigue. We wanted to keep engagement high.”

As part of the campaign, Mazda partnered with the Academy Gold program, a professional development initiative from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that supports emerging filmmakers. Academy Gold mentees were invited to observe the production and engage with filmmakers and production leaders, gaining behind-the-scenes experience on a large-scale film shoot. The mentorship component was executed in collaboration with the Academy and Disney and featured students from the Academy Gold program.

Mazda collaborated with Disney CreativeWorks to document the mentorship experience and filmmaking process through original behind-the-scenes content featuring mentors and mentees. The short-form films will run across social and digital platforms leading up to and around the Oscars.

Following the Oscars debut, one film premiered online each week.

“We wanted it to feel episodic and give people a reason to come back,” Audet says. “Each week spotlighted a different story. The idea was that each piece could stand alone, but the full collection would be even more meaningful together.”

Overall, the campaign has delivered one of the highest attention scores in Mazda’s portfolio over the past decade. The 30-second spot achieved a 710 attention score—10% above non-luxury-auto industry norms.

The campaign is resonating strongly with non-Mazda owners, driving lifts in attention, desire and likeability, along with a significant positive shift in brand perception, according to iSpot.tv.

“Change,” a standout metric, saw the largest positive delta: +57 versus Mazda norms and +66 compared with non-luxury competitors. A substantial portion of viewers came away with a more favorable view of both the CX-5 and Mazda overall. Among non-owners, that score reached 693, indicating particularly strong impact with conquest audiences, according to iSpot.tv.

The Oscars placement also drove statistically significant lifts in key brand attributes, including CX-5 familiarity (+14.3), intuitively responsive handling (+13.9), and beautifully designed (+12.5)—all exceeding pre-Oscars benchmarks by three to five times, according to Dynata.

Following the broadcast, search interest for Mazda and CX-5 reached peak levels, while ad awareness nearly doubled (8.4% vs. 4.5%) compared with last year’s Oscars campaign, according to Google Trends and YouGov.