Bluesky-Walter Graff Weblog

Ford has a new man at the helm and a new campaign to turn things around. It’s called “Drive one”.

Ford will fail terribly with this campaign. Why? Ford’s new catch from Toyota, Jim Farley says it best:

“We’ll have fancy TV ads, but the essence is one human being talking to another human being about Ford,” Farley said, adding the reality and perception of Ford’s products don’t match. “It’s that gap between reality and perception that this whole thing is designed to close.”

One human being talking to another? That great sense of humor is running in the family. Chris Farley was really good on SNL. So Farley admits the ads will not work, it will be word of mouth that will? I think Ford has an almost insurmountable hurdle to overcome, and this is not the way to do it. Dealers have already been trying to tell folks about Fords. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t work because every bit of research on car buying says people DO NOT believe car dealers in advertisements. EVERY BIT OF RECEARCH!!! And now Farley is looked at as some magician that is going to pull a Taurus out of his hat. When Elliot Spitzer had his problem, the girl he had the problem with suddenly became a celebrity. She went from hoar to every persons fantasy for a talented singer, model, etc. Because of her one ’suc-cess’ (pun intended) suddenly the world thought the world of her.

Farley had success at Toyota because Toyota did well while he worked there. I’m sure he made some great decisions but he also had a lot of things going for the company that were beyond him. Now suddenly his one lucky position has him as some sort of guru. History writes that few in any field carry their great success to other arenas. If that was the case than all the sequels would be as good if not better than the original. Only a handful are. I hope Farley knows that his success at Toyota in some ways had less to do with him and more to do with Toyota s product. Basically, people told other people about Toyota. Word of mouth made Toyota into a brand that is the leader today. The same story can be said for Target. They found word of mouth made them into the chain they are. Saturn started out as a great company too. Not because of anything but word of mouth. Of course they ruined the company by not taking advantage of this. And all the examples above were organic word of mouth. It happened because it happened, not because you want to use some sort of astro turfing to make it happen. Astroturfing doesn’t work. Sony tried it as did Panasonic with some of their electronic products. People just have to find out on their own, not because you told them to.

Now Farley thinks he can kick-start word of mouth for Ford. But word of mouth is a much harder reality than telling people that word of mouth makes success. A lot of conditions have to be right

It was right for the Japanese manufactures when they did it because they offered NEW quality when American cars lacked it. Target offered unique presentation, nice variety, and quality all for a fair price. Target spent a lot on ad campaigns but in the end even their marketing people admitted they did far less than the stores buyers who simply got the stores layout and merchandise variety right and that is what drove people to Target, and what made them tell others about it. And Ford does not have those conditions and can not make them with advertising the way they are approaching it.

Okay, your own research shows that 41% of people like the name Ford. But telling folks your product equals a better product only means you admit your product wasn’t as good to start with. Why not just buy the original and not the imitation? Have ten customers tell folks that they used to drive Toyota and now realized how Ford was better and switched and folks will perk up their ears. Have dealers tell you how good Fords are and you’ll have spent money on ads only to watch no one continue to come into dealerships. Ford can now say they have the same quality, but it’s not unique enough. Distinguish yourself or die. Match your opponents and its a tie. Ties don’t win games.