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2026 Ford Mustang GTD

A two-post Instagram launch: a smoke Reel Reveal, then a Seamless Carousel.

01 The launch

A car I helped build was about to hit the street, so its reveal had to feel as fast as the car: a smoke Reel to reach people, then a seamless carousel to hold them.

Project
Self-initiated launch campaign
Role
Concept, design and launch
Deliverables
Reel Reveal, Seamless Carousel, Captions and timing
Tools
Photoshop, After Effects

Self-initiated concept. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Ford Motor Company.

The full carousel artboard: the Ford oval with Street Legal, But Just Barely; the car head-on across the middle two panels, with its Nürburgring time, top speed and 815 HP; and the running horse outline in the smoke. Four panels cut from one image.
1 / 4
One 4320 × 1350 artboard, cut into 4 panels of 1080 × 1350: swipe it as it ran on Instagram.

02 The plan

I worked at Multimatic, where the 2026 Ford Mustang GTD is built. Before designing anything I looked at what each Instagram format is actually good at.

Carousels earn the most engagement from the people who see them; Reels reach the most people. So the plan was two posts with two jobs: a Reel to reach people, a carousel to hold them.

The Reel Reveal goes out first and only says Coming Soon. One hour later the Seamless Carousel pays it off with the full car and the numbers.

Engagement per person reached

  • Carousels 6.90%
  • Reels 3.31%

Reach, relative to carousels

  • Reels 1.36x
  • Carousels 1.00x
Source: Buffer, State of Social Media Engagement (52M+ posts)

03 The Reel Reveal

I built the car's silhouette and the Ford logo in Photoshop, then brought them into After Effects and let smoke carry the reveal.

Ten seconds, no sound needed: the car sharpens out of the haze, the frame flips to black, and it dissolves back into smoke.

Photoshop with the Reel file open: the car's dark silhouette on a 1080 by 1920 canvas, with the layer stack on the right.
Photoshop: the silhouette, built from layered smart objects.
After Effects with the Reel composition open: smoke footage over the car, and a timeline of four layers across ten seconds.
After Effects: smoke over the silhouette, timed across ten seconds.

  • JM Design

    Something street legal, but just barely, is coming out of the smoke. A ten-second teaser, built in Photoshop and After Effects. #MustangGTD #StreetLegalButJustBarely

    JM Design · Original audio

04 The Seamless Carousel

The carousel started as one continuous 4320 by 1350 artboard in Photoshop, then was sliced into four 1080 by 1350 panels.

Because it is one image, the smoke and the horizon carry across every swipe, and the numbers arrive as you go: the lap time and top speed, then 815 horsepower.

A plain carousel asks for a swipe. A seamless one makes stopping feel unfinished. It took three versions to get there.

The full carousel artboard, cut into four panels: the Ford oval with Street Legal, But Just Barely; the car head-on across the middle two panels with its Nürburgring time, top speed and 815 HP; and the running horse outline in the smoke.
One artboard, sliced into 4 panels.

  • Seamless Carousel

    • Panel one: the Ford oval above the script line 'Street Legal' and, beneath it, 'But Just Barely', over drifting smoke.
    • Panel two: the front three-quarter of a grey Mustang GTD with its headlights lit, captioned 'Official Nürburgring Time 6 Min. 40.835 Sec.' and 'Top Track Speed 202 MPH'.
    • Panel three: the car's nose filling the frame beneath the words 'Max Horsepower 815 HP'.
    • Panel four: the running-horse outline alone in the smoke, the car gone.

    JM Design Swipe slowly. Four panels, one car: the 2026 Ford Mustang GTD as one unbroken frame across the swipe. #MustangGTD #StreetLegalButJustBarely

05 Captions and timing

The teaser caption is two words and one tag: it creates suspense and starts the campaign hashtag, #StreetLegalButJustBarely. The reveal caption names the car and adds brand and model tags, so people searching for the car can find it.

I posted on a Tuesday morning, one of the strongest days in both large posting studies. The hour between the posts gives the teaser time to travel before the payoff lands.

JM Design Tuesday, 8:00 AM · Reel Reveal

Coming Soon! #StreetLegalButJustBarely

JM Design Tuesday, 9:00 AM · Seamless Carousel

Ford 2026 Mustang GTD #Ford #2026 #Mustang #GTD #StreetLegalButJustBarely

06 Results and what I learned

The account was two months old, so these are small numbers. What matters is what they say.

The Reel did the reaching: 26 times the carousel's reach. The carousel reached almost no one new but got a like from nearly everyone who saw it: the reach and depth split the research predicted.

  • Reel Reveal

    104 people reached

    Views
    128
    Likes
    7
    Saves
    1
    Average watch
    5.0 s of 10 s

  • Seamless Carousel

    4 people reached

    Views
    25
    Likes
    5
Source: Instagram Insights via Buffer, one month after posting

What I'd test next

  • Post the reveal on a Tuesday afternoon.
  • Share the carousel to Stories to push its reach.
  • Give the Reel a clear call to action.
  • Add Unofficial concept, not affiliated with Ford, to both captions.

Sources

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