DETROIT —
Ford Motor Co. plans to launch a 24-week TV advertising
campaign on Monday with 40 commercials featuring actual
Ford customers talking about the features of the Ford
vehicles that they like.
The new commercials are an extension
of an effective formula Ford used recently as well as an
effort to take Ford from a brand customers respect to
one viewed as offering cutting-edge products.
"We wanted to sort of ride the
wave of enthusiasm that Ford has been having ... and it
seemed like the best way to do that was by sharing the
stories of the people who are enjoying the
product," said Toby Barlow, chief creative officer
for Team Detroit, a consortium of five advertising
agencies that handles Ford's advertising.
The new campaign also demonstrates
that Ford is increasingly willing to flex its marketing
muscle in an attempt to solidify recent market share
gains.
Ford, the only domestic automaker to
forgo federal emergency funding, has gained a full point
of market share over the first nine months of this year
and reported a $2.3-billion profit for the second
quarter.
While the company doesn't expect to
earn a profit for the year and is burdened with $25.8
billion in automotive debt, Matt VanDyke, Ford's
director of marketing communications, said Ford will
increase total advertising spending during the final
three months of 2009.
And for the year, VanDyke said, Ford
will spend about 10 percent more than last year.
In 2008, Ford spent an estimated $1.01
billion, according to TNS Media Intelligence.
What's more, VanDyke said the next
phase of the company's Drive One branding campaign is an
additional layer on top of Ford's other product-related
commercials and builds on a proven formula.
In April, Ford took home the prize for
most effective automotive advertisement of 2008 from
Nielsen IAG for a commercial featuring a real customer
in a Ford Focus.
"The real people aspect of that
advertisement and the sincerity came through loud and
clear and connected with the viewer," said Lois
Miller, president of Nielsen IAG Automotive.
VanDyke said Drive One has helped Ford
gain recognition for improved fuel economy and quality.
With the new phase of Drive One, Ford hopes to convince
consumers that Ford is, "successful, clever, savvy
and cool."
To do that, the short commercials
feature customers raving about everything from the
acceleration of the Ford Fusion hybrid to the
convenience of having a refrigerator in the Ford Flex
crossover.
"It's very well done," said
Jim Seavitt, owner of Village Ford in Dearborn, Mich.
"They originally had another campaign in mind, and
I am very happy with this."
Art Spinella, president of CNW
Marketing research, said 26 weeks is an unusually long
advertisement commitment for a domestic automaker but
said Ford's marketing efforts are becoming more
disciplined than those of some competitors.
"The ads will work if they are
consistent," Spinella said. "In Ford's case,
they hammer the point, and they continue hammering it
until people get it."
In addition to using the
advertisements as TV commercials, Ford also plans to
adapt them for various online advertising efforts. Ford
also said it has developed a separate campaign for the
Washington market aimed at policy decision-makers.