What would You tell the new Aussie boss

[4Vman]

Originally Posted by prydey

they play that stupid hilux ad (trd i think) all the time with the people just nodding at each other. makes me want to smash my tv. and of all the features they decide to advertise - ventilated discs is one of them.

i do agree with corolla though. very rarely do you see a corolla ad.

mind you this does support the fact that tv advertising results in very few sales. ford possibly think why spend the money in that area when it doesn't translate directly to sales.

toyota are riding on their reputation at the moment. all the hard work has been done in the last decades building boring but reliable cars.

from what i've seen, the new ones have just as many issues as any other manufacturer but their reputation is all but bulletproof. these sort of things take years to instill into people and unfortunately its too late to start now. by the time people start thinking of the falcon nameplate as a quality vehicle that is cheap to run and extremely safe, the falcon nameplate will be gone.

most non car people that i speak to automatically assume the falcon is a petrol guzzling low tech (aussie v euro) large car.

1st port of call for the new ford boss i feel is to get the media on your side. for some reason anytime ford lose money worldwide or lay off a few people the media soak it up and make it headline news accross the country. most people on this forum realise that GM is in virtually the same position if not worse and yet you hear nothing from the media. everyone assumes they are going great guns because they sell a lot of commodores. i feel the media is largely responsible for the failure of MMA and the 380. who wants to buy a car, regardless of how good it may be, when all you hear from the media is how deep the trouble is they are in. ford unfortunately are copping this treatment at the moment.

demand for diesel powered cars has taken a bit of a hit with the current pricing of petrol v diesel. most savings on the road are offset at the bowser.

can austalia support the mondeo AND falcon. they are basically the same size. maybe ford are tryng to have their fingers in too many pies. fiesta/focus, mondeo/falcon etc.

brand image is a biggie. a lot of people buy holdens for the badge. people need to be made to feel the same about ford.

The TRD hilux is selling at about 40 per month, the TRD aurion even less, they've both been comprehensive failures... the TRD aurion gets a facelift in the new year, i think ive seen that TRD ad about 4 times.. its rarely played.
Toyota have non specific feel good ads which are catchy and promote brand awareness.
The other thing i would say is Toyota have one of the lowest recall/issue rates of any brand sold in Australia, this is one of the reasons for their success, along with building the right cars apparently for our market.
Toyota advertise for Brand awareness only.. they spend very limited money on product specific ads, there is a good reason for this, but i will concede you might take a slightly different approach as a market leader as opposed to a struggling manufacturer.
Personally i think Ford need to improve their range (specifically SUV's) and Brand image much more than advertise specific models.