Dakota Kid Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 In one of my son's Dec issues of Sports Illistrated, under the front cover was an ad for the Fusion...you know, This is Life...This is Life in Drive. This ad featured a bride and groom at the alter with the groom staring at the maid of honors' large chest while his soon-to-be wife was standing there flat chested. you guessed it, "This is Life" This along with the other lame "Life in Drive" TV ads and ads with that oversized country music star...come on, is the best marketing can come up with? :blink: Over the Christmas holiday my brother in-law told stories how he drives clients all over the city. These clients all drive BMW's, Lexus, Audi etc. They can not believe they're riding in a Ford 500. When will the world be told that the 500 is one of if not the safest cars on the market? A co-workers' daughter rolled her Ranger several times on icey roads. The only any part of the truck that survived was the cab. Both passengers walked away. I looked at a Colorado and wouldn't trade a Ranger for it. Spending $90 million having Mr. Ford tell how Ford is going to business in the future isn't helping too much now is it? Will spend another couple million in next months Super Bowl to sell the last couple of GT's? Here's a simple idea. Have a contest. Participants send in a video testimonial showing or telling why they drive a Ford or a positive Ford experience. The winners win a 2 year lease with unlimited mileage. Oh...and reinvest the $89.5 million saved in the company Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickF1011 Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 (edited) I find the Fusion ads to be very appealing. They aren't typical of American automakers. They appear to have a much more Asian flair to them, which is exactly how they SHOULD be, as the Fusion is being marketed to current import-owners. Ford's truck ads may be corny, but they do portray a strong message: We KNOW trucks. And the F-series continues to do very well in the market. Toby Keith connects well with America's public and seems to be a "trustworthy" spokesman, if there could be such a thing. The new Mercury ads have been praised industry wide by both analysts and consumers. The new ad campaign currently airing for the Five Hundred touts its quadruple 5-star crash test rating and IIHS "Best Pick" awards. Ford's marketing certainly could improve still, but I definitely like the way it is headed. A VAST improvement to where it was a year ago. Edited January 4, 2006 by NickF1011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 Your talking about the same company that pays 1 million dollars a year to have their name on the Detroit Lions stadium. Imagine that. Ford Motor Company is paying to have the Lions' owners name on a stadum that the State of Mighigan helped build, and the contract runs until 2042. Actually that seems pretty cheap, as far as that goes... Naming concessions are all the rage these days, it's a great way for the government that inevitably ends up financing the stupid things to get money to pay off the bonds. ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluecon Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 The scary thing is Bill Fords' previous business experience was running the Lions. He seems to be doing for Ford what he did for the lions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dakota Kid Posted January 5, 2006 Author Share Posted January 5, 2006 Actually that seems pretty cheap, as far as that goes... Naming concessions are all the rage these days, it's a great way for the government that inevitably ends up financing the stupid things to get money to pay off the bonds. ... Mr. Jensen, I believe what you're saying is absolutely correct but the previous note raised a good point. Is the Football stadium named Ford Field to promote the products or the family name? In this case people associate the company/family name with a lousey FB team and they may conclude the car company is ran just as poorly. Unfortunately the family doesn't own the Pistons :lol: Ford Palace? Henry Ford Arena? Edsel Stadium...forget baseball for now. If it truely is the product's name being promoted, think about associating with a winning or successful partner. Whatever happend to public image? This is what I was referring to in the SI ad and some of the other lame "This is Life" ads. Cute, maybe...funny, sometimes...poor taste, yes. Will that ad entice me to go to a Ford Dealership, no. Maybe I just don't get Big Business. :huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 There's a concept in marketing and advertising called "Top of mind awareness". It works like this: Name three coffee shops (if you like coffee shops) close to your office or home. Odds are there are a half-dozen or more close to your work, yet you will be hard pressed to name all 6. You will probably remember two or three, and run into a wall. Top of mind. That, and the ego stroking for the heads of these companies, are the reason for naming concessions. ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dakota Kid Posted January 5, 2006 Author Share Posted January 5, 2006 There's a concept in marketing and advertising called "Top of mind awareness". It works like this: Name three coffee shops (if you like coffee shops) close to your office or home. Odds are there are a half-dozen or more close to your work, yet you will be hard pressed to name all 6. You will probably remember two or three, and run into a wall. Top of mind. That, and the ego stroking for the heads of these companies, are the reason for naming concessions. ... ...and this ego stroking is getting companies like Ford in trouble. "Top of mind awareness" is true. If a comsumer is asked to identify failing auto companies, GM and Ford will probably be in that short list. I know that Ford has as good a product line as anyone and their employees are second to none, but we're getting a bum wrap. I'm tired of being told we need to push more AXZ plans while corp throws big money at ineffective ads and marketing. Or even worse not marketing some of their product line at all. The best ads are F-series ads even though the truck nearly sells itself. What about ads for those entry level vehicles? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebritt Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 I like the Mitsubishi Raider commercial where the Raider make the Frontier pee itself... :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 the truck nearly sells itself Marketing myth number, oh, say 153. Nothing EVER sells itself. But, yeah expect a lot more top of mind awareness advertising from Ford, and a lot more image advertising from Ford; the emphasis is likely to move away from individual products (at least as far as expensive TV advertising, etc.)--why? Because Ford needs to build the reputation of their brand, not their products. ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluecon Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 Marketing myth number, oh, say 153. Nothing EVER sells itself. But, yeah expect a lot more top of mind awareness advertising from Ford, and a lot more image advertising from Ford; the emphasis is likely to move away from individual products (at least as far as expensive TV advertising, etc.)--why? Because Ford needs to build the reputation of their brand, not their products. ... Toyota, Honda and Hyundai did not get where they are today via fancy commercials and marketing. It was with excellent product and customer service and word of mouth advertising. While the buyers of the big three vehicles were complaining about what was wrong with their vehicle the import owners were praising their vehicles and service. Ford has vastly improved the quality and needs to get this message out to the consumers. I have a 2000 Ranger. Excellent little truck with about 95K miles on it. When it was under warranty a sensor went bad. I stopped at my mechanics and had him hook his diagnostic tool up and turn off the warning light. What the technicians at the dealers are told to do is turn off the warning light and then if it comes back on, on the second visit they will replace the part. Anyway I did not want to make 2 trips to the dealer so I told him what was my mechanic had done. His response was I was not allowed to check my own vehicle. A lot of attitude over what I thought was a minor thing. He did fix it although the truck was returned hours later than promised and I was late for the afternoon shift at work. Small thing but no reason for the bad customer sevice. Other than that the only problem was the same sensor again and a tranny problem. The tranny shop told my mechanic the valve body was shot or I would need a rebuild. Turned out it was only a leak that had developed in the valve body gasket. Put on a new gasket and it has been fine ever since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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