Will Ford Brag About The Big Win?

[Fez WQ]

I wonder if Ford Aust will use the win yesterday. ........To help sell more cars in a ad campaign- My guess is they dont know how to do ads anymore..........
Let me tell you Holden would .......come one FPV to your best to sell the best

Mate advertise ya stuff ford

[Pinkbits]

The only thing that the race cars have in common with joe blow publics is looks.
"Win on Sunday, sell on Monday" went out the door back in the 80's.

[geckoGT]

Of course they won't, haven't the last two times. Somehow I do't think a Bathurst win quite fits in with the image they wish to portray for their mainstream cars.

FPV would use it if it was FPR that won but as it was 888 and SBR they will not as there is no affiliation. What I mean is FPR are marked with GT and FPV insignia, 888 and SBR only have Ford.

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by Aaron Hunter

I wonder if Ford Aust will use the win yesterday. ........To help sell more cars in a ad campaign- My guess is they dont know how to do ads anymore..........
Let me tell you Holden would .......come one FPV to your best to sell the best

Mate advertise ya stuff ford

V8 Supercars resemble Fords and Holdens in shape, little else is common. Only those gullable to want to race out on Monday these days after seeing who won Bathurst won't need an advertisement to do so.

I'd like to see Ford congratulate 888 but to base an add campaign around it would be throwing money into a pit.

[eb_5litre]

Anything that gets the words FORD and WINNING out into the public media cant be bad.

[290v]

Why shouldn't they they have the right holdens have been rubbing it in there face for years

[Falcon Coupe]

Russellw summed it up well with this:

Originally Posted by russellw

For those wondering why FoA won't be saturation advertising the win there is a really simple answer - it's costly and the general public don't really care.

1. The "enthusiast" market makes up around 20% of their sales currently.
2. As we proved in the years that Ford was going bad in V8 Supercar racing not very many of the enthusiasts switch sides just because of that.
3. The days of win Sunday, sell Monday are gone.
4. Despite the 3 years of success Ford sales have hardly lifted.

I wouldn't be spending the money either.

Cheers
Russ

[4Vman]

Originally Posted by Falcon Coupe

Russelw summed it up well with this:

Exactly, people who don't know Ford won don't care, and the people who do care already know the result.
In fact if Ford spent money bragging about it id think it was a very poor waste of money.

[Romulus]

Originally Posted by Aaron Hunter

I wonder if Ford Aust will use the win yesterday. ........To help sell more cars in a ad campaign- My guess is they dont know how to do ads anymore..........
Let me tell you Holden would .......come one FPV to your best to sell the best

Mate advertise ya stuff ford

I'll tell you which manufacturers do, both Toyota and Honda. They use their involvement in rally and F1 respectively to market "we race, you win", drawing on the analagy the technology they use in motor racing filters down to their road vehicles.

Very successful too IMO.

[Whitey-AMG]

Originally Posted by 4Vman

Exactly, people who don't know Ford won don't care, and the people who do care already know the result.
In fact if Ford spent money bragging about it id think it was a very poor waste of money.

Disagree.......totally

Its a wasted opportunity.

FORD can use the opportunity to market the brand regardless of whether its a Falcon , Mondeo , Focus or Territory that they're " trying" to sell.

It's called BRAND marketing and big business have been using it for years !!!!
It's why SPONSORS like VODAFONE spend millions every year plastering their logo on teams that they think will be in the forefront of whatever venture they're in. The fact that people see VODAFONE signage everywhere in a POSITIVE way.......winning races , rallies , fashion shows.........whatever.......it gets the name out in the public, it "influences" general culture eventually.

We all whinge that FORD doesn't advertise enough.......well here is the perfect opportunity to market the FORD brand as a WINNER. A winner on the road with its 5 star safety rating and cutting edge local technology and a consistent winner on the TRACK. Any good marketing department can stretch an opportunity like this for MILES AND MILES.

When my 8 year old asked me yesterday........"who won dad".........I said FORD WON.........I didn't tell him the VODAFONE car won.........You can make of it what you like......and this is what FORD need to do ASAP.

I'm sure VODAFONE will make a fist of it somehow in a way that suits them.........FORD need to do the same.

[JPFS1]

It would only create more brand damage to Ford if they were to yell out from the top of the hills over this.

Do you really think Ford want to align themselves with the true Bathurst demographic? I don't think they do. Would certainly go against the obvious perception they are trying to create.

[4Vman]

Originally Posted by ESP

Disagree.......totally

Its a wasted opportunity.

FORD can use the opportunity to market the brand regardless of whether its a Falcon , Mondeo , Focus or Territory that they're " trying" to sell.

It's called BRAND marketing and big business have been using it for years !!!!
It's why SPONSORS like VODAFONE spend millions every year plastering their logo on teams that they think will be in the forefront of whatever venture they're in. The fact that people see VODAFONE signage everywhere in a POSITIVE way.......winning races , rallies , fashion shows.........whatever.......it gets the name out in the public, it "influences" general culture eventually.

We all whinge that FORD doesn't advertise enough.......well here is the perfect opportunity to market the FORD brand as a WINNER. A winner on the road with its 5 star safety rating and cutting edge local technology and a consistent winner on the TRACK. Any good marketing department can stretch an opportunity like this for MILES AND MILES.

When my 8 year old asked me yesterday........"who won dad".........I said FORD WON.........I didn't tell him the VODAFONE car won.........You can make of it what you like......and this is what FORD need to do ASAP.

I'm sure VODAFONE will make a fist of it somehow in a way that suits them.........FORD need to do the same.

Bathurst is predominantly the domain of fiercely brand loyal motorsport enthusiasts.... who lets face it, have already made a brand choice.
There's no where near the brand loyalty to Phone companies, Vodafone will get FAR more out of this victory than Ford ever will regardless of how much they brag about it.
Sports like cricket and tennis have a much broader and wider public audience than Motorsport, which is why Ford put more effort into those events.
Besides that, motorsport is more the domain of FPV as a brand, not Ford, and we all know how small that market is anyway.... so a big "spend" to brag would be near on impossible to justify, especially when their "team" didnt win.....

[tex]

Ford Australia have publically stated that they intend to distance the brand from motorsport involvement, as the first stage in the brands re - birth, it's new direction.

Further, they also stated that NO race drivers, race teams or any other connection with racing achievements will be utilised in future marketing campaigns.

If I can find the article, I will post it up.

Ford Australia are endeavouring to eliminate any connection with the enthusiast market (as they are of the opinion - that demographic are stoooopid enough to continue buying the cars regardless of how they are marketed), in so doing - not 'put off' the mums and dads buyers who do not want their potential vehicle choice associated with enthusiasts, racers, bogans what ever.

Apparently mums and dads don't buy Fords due to the connection with bogan types.

I'd love to participate in some of Ford Aus' focus groups, their market research, if nothing else to help me understand how they (IMO) go from bad to worse - in terms of the campaigns to attract new buyers. Do these groups provide feedback supporting more vinyl clad limited addition models? Did same group come up with walking fingers, and an ad that doesn't even show the car?

And ESP hit the nail square : Any good marketing department can stretch an opportunity like this for MILES AND MILES. in reference to three Bathurst wins in a row.

Yes they could, but unfortunately Ford Aus does not have one of these at their disposal.

[geckoGT]

Originally Posted by TVS Super Pursuit

I'll tell you which manufacturers do, both Toyota and Honda. They use their involvement in rally and F1 respectively to market "we race, you win", drawing on the analagy the technology they use in motor racing filters down to their road vehicles.

Very successful too IMO.

The difference for manufacturers such as Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Audi, Mercedes and BMW etc is quite simple. The technology they develop in their respective area of motorsport directly relates to their road cars as that technology is often developed on the race track and used on the road. Think of the Evolution Lancers and STI Subaru rally cars, the road versions are not that different to the WRC and even more similar to the production classes. Audi used 24 hr racing to develop a lot of their diesel technology, Toyota used both FI and Indi, Mercedes use F1 and BTC etc and the list goes on. For these manufacturers there is a direct correlation between road and racing but their advertising is not based on "we have the fastest road car" but more "the lessons we learnt in competition are making your cars better".

Ford and Holden can not do this; the bodies are heavily modified and in Fords case not even the current model. The diffs, gearboxes, soon to be brakes, engine management and often suspension and other components are identical between both manufacturers. In fact it is only the engine s and the bodies that are unique to each manufacturer. There is no correlation between race equipment and my car, additionally no development that the race teams do has flow on effects to what our cars on the road have.

That is one of the reasons why V8 Supercars mean nothing to the car buying public as a majority, the V8 Supercar fanatic population is a very small % of the car buying demographic. The category is just plain not popular enough, an example of this is I have Craig Lowndes’s signature on my steering wheel. I get asked constantly "who is that" to which I tell them and then I get asked "who is he then?". Mass advertising value there!

[XWildGT]

Check this out then
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=lQXgLW...eature=related

[Plugg3r]

Seeing as they're running 304 Chev blocks I cant see sales going up because of it.

Unless the body kit providing better aerodynamics then Holden.

[Wally]

Well according to a July report on Carsales, regarding the V8SC:

Over 40s again made up the majority of the audience, accounting for 67 per cent (versus 60 per cent of the population). Consistent with previous rounds, 60 per cent of viewers fell in the prime 25-54 demographic. Men 18-24 viewing remains low, accounting for just 4 per cent of total viewers.

and a typical declining trend of popularity:

Adelaide and Perth were the only markets to gain audience year-on-year for Saturday's Darwin telecast, while Melbourne lost almost half of last year's viewers. Sydney (down 70,000) and Brisbane (down 43,000) were the largest contributors to Sunday's decline in viewers.

The age group who are most likely to buy a family sedan from the showroom are in the majority of couch potatoes, so there is case to target advertise. On the other hand many of that group have teenage kids who wouldn't be seen dead travelling around in the same car as the oldies, so a large car is hard to justify for practical purposes. They also are afflicted with "kippers" so value for money is high on the list. It's been posted many times in this forum that the younger driving generation seem to skew towards Holdens in lieu of Falcons, for whatever reason and if dad wants to be hip and happening, he's just as likely to go with his kids' lead.

As previously posted, the affiliation between showroom and track cars is pretty much limited to badging. Ford associating a Bathurst win could be construed as contemptuous advertising and patently drawing a long bow.

From the Carsales data I would be trying to influence the teenagers into making the Falcon more funky and levering off that to upwardly influence their parents.

[Scott]

No they won't.... Yes they should.

Even if it's as simple as dropping lines into adds that say "Falcon - 3 Times Bathurst Winner". Most people wouldn't have a clue whether or not the road version is anything like the race car, just look at our forums and see how many enthusiasts still talk about Ford being better than Holden in V8SC.

Top Gear OZ told the whole country (well, by word of mouth if not actual viewers) that "no-one buys Falcons anymore", why wouldn't Ford get out and beat the drum with this result??

Is it because the idiots alienated the wrong team???

Ford continue to make the same mistakes over and over and somehow expect a different result. Ford has earned its current market position and I've had enough.

[geckoGT]

Originally Posted by Wally

Well according to a July report on Carsales, regarding the V8SC:



and a typical declining trend of popularity:



It's been posted many times in this forum that the younger driving generation seem to skew towards Holdens in lieu of Falcons, for whatever reason and if dad wants to be hip and happening, he's just as likely to go with his kids' lead.

Actually the younger generations are buying Subarus, Mitsubishi's etc, just have a look around.

[Wally]

Yes, I was confining it to the family car market.

[EgoFG]

Originally Posted by JPFS1

It would only create more brand damage to Ford if they were to yell out from the top of the hills over this.

Do you really think Ford want to align themselves with the true Bathurst demographic? I don't think they do. Would certainly go against the obvious perception they are trying to create.

I believe that the gain from boasting about race victories is there, but there is at least a 5 year turn around.

Holden is still basking in the glory of the Brock days, and the 90s bias days.

But FORD take note (subjective estimates follow):
the crowd this year was very close to 50/50, last year it seems more like 70% holden.

And, yes there are bogans at Bathurst, but a lot of professionals and families as well.

From where I was sitting I would say the crowd has 10-15% bogans. These are vocal and stand out. but even bogans are potential customers.

[Grum]

been to www.ford.com.au today???

[Quicksand]

Originally Posted by Plugg3r

Unless the body kit providing better aerodynamics then Holden.

Funny you should mention that; from an article back in September:

Holden has accused Ford of having an aerodynamic advantage - understood to concern the front end of the BF Falcon - which has given the Blue Oval more than one 10th of a second advantage every 60 seconds.

Source - http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...-39478,00.html

[Scott]

Originally Posted by Grum

been to www.ford.com.au today???

I take it all back ;)

I logged on last night (after seeing just how quick Holden/HSV did theirs).

edit - being a Ford nut, why is this the first time I have found this page:
https://www.secure.ford.com.au/servl...YPage&site=FOA

[DJR-351]

Originally Posted by geckoGT

The difference for manufacturers such as Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Audi, Mercedes and BMW etc is quite simple. The technology they develop in their respective area of motorsport directly relates to their road cars as that technology is often developed on the race track and used on the road. Think of the Evolution Lancers and STI Subaru rally cars, the road versions are not that different to the WRC and even more similar to the production classes. Audi used 24 hr racing to develop a lot of their diesel technology, Toyota used both FI and Indi, Mercedes use F1 and BTC etc and the list goes on. For these manufacturers there is a direct correlation between road and racing but their advertising is not based on "we have the fastest road car" but more "the lessons we learnt in competition are making your cars better".

Ford and Holden can not do this; the bodies are heavily modified and in Fords case not even the current model. The diffs, gearboxes, soon to be brakes, engine management and often suspension and other components are identical between both manufacturers. In fact it is only the engine s and the bodies that are unique to each manufacturer. There is no correlation between race equipment and my car, additionally no development that the race teams do has flow on effects to what our cars on the road have.

That is one of the reasons why V8 Supercars mean nothing to the car buying public as a majority, the V8 Supercar fanatic population is a very small % of the car buying demographic. The category is just plain not popular enough, an example of this is I have Craig Lowndes’s signature on my steering wheel. I get asked constantly "who is that" to which I tell them and then I get asked "who is he then?". Mass advertising value there!

Totaly agree....... just like my old slot car set, i could change the bodies over to whatever took my fancy that day.

While Ford can publically congratulate all those concerned, they have no rights to promote it as a Ford victory.

[DOC]

Viral Marketing seems to be working well.

[Whitey-AMG]

Originally Posted by Grum

been to www.ford.com.au today???

You have to click on the banner and there is no real lead into the BATHURST Victory............but once you're into the linked site.............its great to see that the win has been celebrated.....albeit very backdoorish..........

[barra240t]

Nope. Remember when there used to be the "extra, extra" flyers they would put on the cars after a win? We used to get those for every race as a dealer. I haven't seen them for a few years now!

[Plugg3r]

Originally Posted by geckoGT

In fact it is only the engine s and the bodies that are unique to each manufacturer.

Though isnt the case they are all running 5.0L 304's?
And i heard even the extent that Ford's are even running the Chev 304 V8 Block.

[4Vman]

Originally Posted by barra240t

Nope. Remember when there used to be the "extra, extra" flyers they would put on the cars after a win? We used to get those for every race as a dealer. I haven't seen them for a few years now!

I think you'll find they're banned now by VESA...