Repositioning of Ford Motor Co.

Under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Jacques Nasser, Ford Motor Company is now engaged in a major repositioning of its brands, its image, and its markets. Nasser's goal is to turn Ford "from a boring old car maker whose shares achieve a price-earnings ratio of only ten, into a consumer-products and services company commanding a multiple of more like thirty" (The Economist, 1999, p. 10). Simultaneously, by shifting some of its emphasis from affordable, mid-range family cars and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) to the upscale markets via its acquisition of Jaguar, Aston Martin, and Volvo, and reassessing its own Lincoln and Mercury brands, Ford hopes to capture an increased share of the luxury market as well (The Economist, 1999). To that end, the company has launched a massive advertising campaign to position its brands in this new market.

While advertising targeting upscale automobile purchasers is one of the key features of Ford's new campaign, the company has not abandoned its younger and less affluent consumers. The Ford Focus is a vehicle designed for buyers aged 35 and under, and the price tag for the vehicle reflects this market (Halliday, 2000a). The brand is being characterized as an ideal vehicle for echo boomers (children of baby boomers) who are upwardly mobile, but not yet ready for the purchase of a true luxury vehicle. Ford's goal, as represented throughout all of its new advertising, is to produce sufficient vehicle variety and price points to a

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tising campaign which targets younger purchasers of luxury vehicles. Elliott (1999) has also described Ford's new advertising and marketing strategy, specifically with respect to its use of television. At the end of 1999, Ford had purchased $10 million of commercial time on dozens of national and panregional networks to run a single two-minute spot. The spot was also shown on two Web sites, www.ford.com and www.broadcast.com. This "road block" represents an ambitious effort to capture the attention of millions of people at the same hour and thus position its product prominently in a media landscape described by Green (1999) as cluttered and cacophonous. In the commercial, all of the Ford brands from Aston Martin to Volvo, Lincoln, Jaguar, and Ford Focus were depicted. Elliott (1999) contends that while the spot was the first to include all Ford brands, its purpose was less about selling cars and trucks than it was about improving Ford's image. It reflects the strategy of CEO Jacques Nasser, which is to have consumers perceive Ford as the world's leading company for both automobile products and services. Part of Ford's advertising problem is that it has become an incredibly diverse producer of cars, trucks, and SUVs.

Category: Business - R