Ford Motor Company and Salt Lake City creative and technology studio Think Less hit the road for “La Caravana,” a three-part social series that follows creators Brayan and Brando Ventura – better known as the Ventura Twins – on a 2,700-mile journey from Miami to Los Angeles in an F-150 Lobo.
But the truck isn’t really the star.
The people are.
Across 13 days, the twins travel through Miami, Dallas and Los Angeles, meeting the people and communities that give each city its character. The series begins at home in Miami, where the brothers sit down to Dominican food at their mother’s table before venturing into Little Havana, meeting Cuban cigar rollers and salsa dancers.
In Dallas, they connect with the man who helped revive a legendary lowrider club. And in Los Angeles, they spend time with the artists behind Pacoima’s Mural Mile.
Directed by Phil Hessler and executive produced and creatively led by Cole Sax, “La Caravana” grew out of an early idea tied to World Cup host cities. That concept quickly evolved. Watch below:
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“What we quickly realized was that the World Cup was too narrow a frame,” Sax said. “The idea had the legs to be much more, especially around exploring the cultures of the communities along the way, so we rebuilt it around the people and places instead of the calendar.”
That shift became the guiding principle of the entire production.
Rather than build a traditional branded-content vehicle around the F-150 Lobo, Think Less deliberately pushed Ford into the background. “We didn’t want to make a truck commercial with some culture sprinkled on top,” Sax shared. “We wanted the opposite.”
The F-150 instead functions naturally within the story – as transportation, as a mobile conversation space and as the connective tissue between each stop.
Cameras were rigged inside the cab so the twins’ conversations could unfold between destinations.
“The truck became the room where the series talks to itself,” Sax noted. “Ford got a vehicle that’s present in every episode without ever being the subject.”
That philosophy extended to the production itself.
A five-person crew traveled with the twins in two vehicles, keeping the footprint intentionally small enough to film inside kitchens, garages and other intimate environments without overwhelming the people being featured.
Producers Amanda Sarabia and Karen Gaytán researched each city and spent time building relationships with participants well before cameras arrived.
“By the time the twins arrived, those people knew us and trusted us,” Hessler and Sax said. “Then we got out of the way and let Brando and Brayan carry the conversation.”
The Ventura Twins brought more than their combined social following to the project.
Raised in Miami, the brothers were starting the journey from a community they already knew before discovering others across the country.
“They’re curious, they’re funny, and they’re family to each other, which means the audience gets two points of view in every scene,” Sax and Hessler said.
The production schedule was anything but leisurely.
Four of the 13 days were spent entirely on the road, while two others combined morning shoots with long drives, including nine hours to Dallas and roughly 13 hours to Los Angeles.
For Hessler, that unpredictability was part of what made the project work. “You can’t schedule the good stuff,” he said. “This whole series is people deciding to let us in. Their homes, their work, the stories they don’t usually tell a camera.”
The three episodes were ultimately shaped in the edit, with Simon Reinert at Headed Home handling cut and color. Courtney Wells created city-specific motion graphics and key art.
Think Less also expanded the project beyond the episodes themselves, creating English- and Spanish-language social assets, a national dealer cut, a silent Times Square spot and an interactive guide that maps and rates 14 stops from the journey.
One of the project’s biggest moments came after production, when Brayan and Brando saw themselves on the massive 1560 Broadway screen in Times Square.
“They had no idea it was coming until they looked up and saw themselves,” Hessler and Sax recalled. “They’d spent the summer drawing out other people’s stories, and this was the moment the story was theirs.”
“La Caravana” continues Think Less’ relationship with Ford, which began with the 2024 documentary “Call to Serve.”
All three episodes are now available through Ford Latino’s YouTube channel in English and Spanish.
The result is branded content that knows when to let the brand step aside. Ford provides the wheels.
The communities provide the story.
