Ford finally American, or: When in a hole, stop digging!
Good news for the weekend: The two Cologne power brands "FC" and Ford are extending their sponsorship, pardon, their partnership, until 2029. At Ford, they talk about "deep roots", "living tradition", and, yes, "home". And we are confused! After all, Ford Marketing had just won the German Effie Award (bronze!) for a new brand positioning called "Adventurous Spirit", which has nothing to do with "home" at all: In the case summary written by Ford itself, we read that Ford is unfortunately perceived by most customers as a German brand, and that is a problem.
Fortunately, the solution is at hand: the "mass manufacturer game is over", and "Ford is finally becoming like the real Ford". And it gets even better: "Ford will become a premium manufacturer in Europe thanks to its American DNA". Seriously, and we quote again verbatim: "Ford is being established as a premium manufacturer". We didn't even know until now that being perceived as an American car brand paves the way into the premium segment, and anyway we thought the enthusiasm for America had died down a bit recently, but we were wrong, because as it says in the Effie presentation: "Mission accomplished".
It's just a shame that the currency for brand success is still not Effie or YouTube, but sales, turnover and profit. And the success of the new positioning leaves a lot to be desired. We'd rather not look at the sales figures for the new Explorer and Capri premium vehicles and the current market share. Where is this supposed to lead? The sad thing is that Ford has the key in front of its nose, but doesn't want to see it. Because the success of light commercial vehicles such as the Transit, Transit Custom, Courier and Ranger is phenomenal: market share of almost 15 %, and that without "adventurous spirit". But with a clear and relevant positioning: no-nonsense, cooperative, competent. That would be the blueprint for saving the brand, the company and many jobs in the passenger car market.
And the FC sponsorship? Costs a lot of money and doesn't bring much. Except, of course, free tickets for the management. Or what do you think?
Here's the link to Ford's Effie case, and try not to laugh:
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