Ford Marketing Presentation - Melbourne 16th August‏

[geehaa]

Originally Posted by Joe5619

This is the part that does not connect with me.. FPV sells much less Falcons than Ford, has a much smaller A&P budget, it a smaller team, yet it can put together some TV addS.. What does this say about Ford?

It says that Ford is more than Falcon but FPV is not

[Moby Vic]

Originally Posted by Joe5619

Also, on a side note, we keep hearing that the large car market is getting smaller.. Lets be honest, the large segment is only 2 cars, Commodore & Falcon.. If these 2 models drop, the market drops. It would only take one of these 2 models to start firing again & then the whole segment would fire again with it. Is the segment really getting as small as it seems or are the players in the segment just not doing a good enough job of prompting & building the right type of car/ engine options? I wonder what the world would look like today, if both the Commodore & Falcon had diesels engines in them 5 years ago?

I don't know what it would do for sales in Australia, but with coming regulations in the USA, the Taurus must get lighter, and most likely that means smaller. If the next Taurus and the next Falcon share a chassis or are actually the same car (with different steering wheel placement), then that car/chassis fits into One Ford.

The sad part of that scenario is that it would likely be a FWD/AWD car.

Chevrolet/Holden will already be doing something similar with the Chevy SS, but that will be an expensive halo car in the USA, not a volume line.

[Windsor220]

Its interesting that they seem to be pushing Territory and FPV. Plenty of Territory advertising and now a possible export deal. FPV ads are always on and the new R spec is getting plenty of exposure. That says to me that Ford Aus is going to be here building cars longer than 2016. Its just the basic Falcon range that's a bit of a mystery.

[sxckevo]

Amongst some of the dribble being written on this page, there are some genuine, well thought out responses.
I think we all need to stop with the negativity and bickering against the Falcon, Ford Australia and the Australian marketing team. None of it is in positive form as we should continue to look at Ford.
We still have a long way until 2016, i'm sure the Ford marketing team actually have an insight on marketing as they have studied the career.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by Joe5619

This is the part that does not connect with me.. FPV sells much less Falcons than Ford, has a much smaller A&P budget, it a smaller team, yet it can put together some TV addS.. What does this say about Ford? It should not be left to FPV to advertise the Falcon for Ford!! Even if I agree with "TV is not the right thing for Ford", what are they doing to push EB4?

Just passing on what has been relayed from Ford marketing, it's their money to spend how they see fit,
the idea that a company would torpedo it's own product is crazy, it's clearly not the case and what is
being conveyed is that other areas are justifiably now more important to FoA's viability.

Also, on a side note, we keep hearing that the large car market is getting smaller.. Lets be honest, the large segment is only 2 cars, Commodore & Falcon..

Commodore, Falcon and Aurion, anything else doesn't have enough sales to count..

If these 2 models drop, the market drops. It would only take one of these 2 models to start firing again & then the whole segment would fire again with it. Is the segment really getting as small as it seems or are the players in the segment just not doing a good enough job of prompting & building the right type of car/ engine options? I wonder what the world would look like today, if both the Commodore & Falcon had diesels engines in them 5 years ago?

Fleet managers and novated lease buyers are walking away from large cars in general for a variety of reasons,
short of a reversal of FBT policy and government incentives for fleets to buy large Aussie cars, a revival isn't
going to be happening anytime soon..

I will give you cause for hope though,

Last month, Falcon 945 sales

1) FPV sales have come back to life combined sales have surged from 366 in July to 740 last month
So about 150 FPV sedans last month

2) Ford is currently on 3-day week building 8-10 I-6 Ts a day, there fore around 120 units last month 100 sedan/20 Utes
So about 100 XR6T and G6ETs

So of the 945 falcons around 250 of them were I-6Ts and S/C V8s, so that leaves us around 595 to go,
allow around 100 G6Es and the rest, 495 will be a mix of XR6 and very few G6s and sweet FA XTs

So what am I getting at?

In a nutshell, the majority of lost production has come from the Fleet XR6 business,
an area where lower than the lowest retail discounts advertised.

Let's look at sedan ATPs
- S/C V8s are $60K to $80K... Approx 150
- I-6Ts are $50K to $66K......Approx 100
- G6E are approx $45K....Approx 100
- XR6/G6/XT, all below $40K... Rest Approx Approx 595

^^^^^^^ All of this is still a guess but based on some shared info so is worthwhile
in what I'm trying to demonstrate... and that is the average transaction price of Falcon
has actually gone up with reduced build numbers. So if Ford gets their variable costs
in control, things will be tight but they will get by for now but IMO, they need another product to build.

[DanielXR8]

Originally Posted by DJM83

From the outside looking in it seems they have, now it doesnt bother me if it goes or not. But honestly if you were running a business and a product that had been around for a while and no one purchased it would you keep it in your range? I know i wouldnt.
I know the Falcon is a good bit of kit, it has its flaws like most mass produced products. But buying perception has changed. My case for example, ive had 5 falcons since purchasing my first car (none were new though, so i was part of the problem) and i found a car that suits my needs that wasnt one.
I dont know if marketing will help change the perception of the product but im happy to be proven wrong.

Why are you part of a problem for buying second hand? For years Falcons main buyers are fleet and lease. A big part of the cost for those buyers is what the retained value is in x years. Folks like you have created demand for second hand Falcons and propped up the values. Now no one is buying Falcons used, there is less incentive for fleets like rentals to buy them. They will buy what attracts a greater return come time to auction them off.

This garbage that only new buyers counted in Falcons new sales success is complete garbage. If you can't off load a new car you purchase for your fleet, without taking a massive hit, you won't buy it anyway.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by DanielXR8

This garbage that only new buyers counted in Falcons new sales success is complete garbage. If you can't off load a new car you purchase for your fleet, without taking a massive hit, you won't buy it anyway.

Fleets are less worried about resale value and more concerned with up front monthly costs.
Past purchases of large sedans have been mostly for executive packages and novated lease
purchases but since the change in FPT liability, fleets have dropped large sedans like a stone,
it's not the only reason for sure and the biggie is that they just don't need them when other
less costly vehicles will do, this is why EcoLPI really didn't hit and go, the gap between it
and E-gas was enough for fleets to discover that other less costly vehicles would do just fine.

[Moby Vic]

Profit margins for fleet sales tend to be lower as well. Fleet buyers demand a good deal, and don't order costly options.

[Joe5619]

This topic is about Ford marketing, so hopefully I can quote this post from different topic here??

Originally Posted by jpd80

My last point on this subject:
Ford has been advertising Falcon for decades and most certainly have all the data and trends relation to return on Investment.
Now, over the past 10 years, Ford has seen the large car segment go from 25% to 5% and in that time they have done countless
ad campaigns covering $36,990 Falcons, so they know how much the ads cost and how much of a sales bump resulted and how
much success resulted in the cost of advertising discounted Falcons ...was it all a wasted effort?

So instead of blowing farts about how Ford should spend its money, people should realise the sums are in
and that the cost of advertising heavily discounted Falcons just doesn't add up, it's a waste of resources.
There is no point in adding empty sales, that type of manufacturing is unsustainable in a competitive market.

Who said anything about advertising discounted I6 XR6 at 37K?? I want them to advertising the fact they have this fantastic new engine in the Falcon that has ever been offered in a Falcon before. The aim should be to change the perception of have people think Falcon is. There should be not mention of price, just the features/ benefits of this world award winning engine! It should be about building (or should I say re-inventing) the Falcon brand!

A 30 second cut down of the cane toad add would be a good start IMO, with some paper adds or billboard adds to back up the TV add.. Maybe them funny to keep inline with the original youtube add.

[prydey]

the percentage of private buyers has always been pretty low in both falcons and commodores sales.

tv advertising is largely aimed at the private buyer. tv advertising is very expensive. what sort of return would they get from it? i would imagine they have looked at it and decided at this point in time, it wasn't worth it. thats not to say there will never be a tv advert.

i would imagine that ford have a sales group that have regular contact with many fleets purchasers and govt agencies and that they would all be well aware of the offerings at ford. there is much more to it that splashing a 20 sec tv add in front of the handful of people that still take notice of tv ads.

would i buy a camry/aurion etc if toyota suddenly released one with a stonking v8 for eg? nope. good chance i wouldn't even be aware of it until a mad toyota fan (i'm sure they exist) told me. you see, i would see an ad for toyota and would turn off straight away. there would be many that saw falcon and just turn off as well.

an ad campaign to the extent of the likes of mazda and the cx5 would have cost millions. how is the cx5 selling? (i really have no idea). could ford really justify millions on a model that is only one part of the falcon lineup?

this is what they have to weigh up. they have the data and they pay the bills, so they are doing what they can with what they've got.

[Windsor220]

Its true they probably can't do a lot now with money restraints these days. I think part of the problem is they really dropped the ball after BA. That had a good marketing campaign plus interesting new models/tech that really put the Falcon out there. It was suddenly ok to own a Falcon again after all the previous years dramas with AU, lackluster models etc. but after that we never really heard of it again. Falcon has become forgotten with the lack of effective marketing. Commodore still gets talked about among regular people even if sales aren't what they used to be.

[Bossxr8]

The problem is Ford spent millions fitting the Ecoboost and EcoLPi to be a game changer in terms of economy and cost to run. They obviously thought so or they wouldn't have done it.

To then not back up that spending, and that idea, to make these large cars more appealing to people who used to think they were guzzlers, just makes the idea basically a dud one if they fail to tell the masses.

Everyone was talking up the Ecoboost as having the potential to be Falcons saviour, but the pathetic effort to sell it and market it has assured its a failure.

Still building 4 a day, have since day 1. Epic fail. No word of mouth crap they believe will get sales will save it. They have been the architects of its failure.

It hasn't even come within 40% of their sales target for it.

[turbodewd]

Boss,

without a doubt Ford shud spend some dough on a YouTube based ad campaign for the EcoLPI. I mean the old $2 Grand Prix they made just doesnt cut it. They must use humor and allusions to sexual success. If Youtube vids of a woman in a drifting Supra whose top becomes unbuttoned can nab 20 million hits, then surely half a million hits is doable.

[Vormund]

Thought this thread was good for this......

Anyone remember the "Have you driven a Ford, lately?" ads?
1989
1990

Well I decided to quickly put together a more recent one; LINK

Would have liked to find some Falcon MKII shots, but couldn't get any decent workable ones from Ford's youtube funnily enough.

[Quicksand]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

The problem is Ford spent millions fitting the Ecoboost and EcoLPi to be a game changer in terms of economy and cost to run. They obviously thought so or they wouldn't have done it.

To then not back up that spending, and that idea, to make these large cars more appealing to people who used to think they were guzzlers, just makes the idea basically a dud one if they fail to tell the masses.

Everyone was talking up the Ecoboost as having the potential to be Falcons saviour, but the pathetic effort to sell it and market it has assured its a failure.

Still building 4 a day, have since day 1. Epic fail. No word of mouth crap they believe will get sales will save it. They have been the architects of its failure.

It hasn't even come within 40% of their sales target for it.

Yep, Ford have caught themselves in a spiral. The Falcon sales drop, so the expensive advertising gets removed, so the Falcon sales drop further, so they cut some models and offer less choice, so the Falcon sales drop fruther, so...etc etc etc.

Every business i have seen that becomes profitable again has spent money to make it. Its not enough to have a great product; you need market differentiation and the ability to make buyers willing to buy it.

I think more analysis is required as to WHY the large car segment is falling, as people certainly seem to be snapping up mid and large SUV's (which are even bigger than Falcon in many ways). Is it perception? Is it culture? Is it the size of the vehicles body? Is it the cost of fuel? Is it the cost of the cars themselves?

IMO Ford have addressed some of the tangible issues (like fuel), but not the less tangible factors such as culture and perception. They need to attack the stigma around large cars by showing what has been addressed, and what it can offer over the small car segment. I dont think many people realise how great it is to have a large, usable sedan that is cheaper to run than a camry/corolla.

Personally, it seems as though the Falcon and FPV exists just for us enthusiasts now...this type of underground advertising is only effective for enthusiasts who go looking for the information (pull rather than push). So in years to come, will we be grateful that Ford kept the Falcon around for us enthusiasts to buy for as long as possible? Or will we be ****ed that Ford threw in the towel and let it die a slow and horrible death, to the point where everyone had to agree it was the right thing to do to kill a low volume product...

[Jason[98.EL]]

Originally Posted by Vormund

Thought this thread was good for this......

Anyone remember the "Have you driven a Ford, lately?" ads?
1989
1990

Well I decided to quickly put together a more recent one; LINK

Would have liked to find some Falcon MKII shots, but couldn't get any decent workable ones from Ford's youtube funnily enough.

hey mate just clicked your link and it is set to private

should put it into a public setting area if you want us to have a look

Jason

[Vormund]

Originally Posted by Jason[98.EL]

hey mate just clicked your link and it is set to private

should put it into a public setting area if you want us to have a look

Jason

whoops. Meant to just put it unlisted. Oh well its public now.

[RASER]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

.

Still building 4 a day, have since day 1. Epic fail. No word of mouth crap they believe will get sales will save it. They have been the architects of its failure.

It hasn't even come within 40% of their sales target for it.

WTF, 4 A DAY, that has to be wrong?

Well that worked out well....not

They could and should have fitted the Terri diesel, i bet they could have sold at least 5 times [20/pcs] that of the econonsense 4cyl job.

They bet the farm, and our taxes of a 4cyl Falcon [who the f would want a 4 cyl Falcon??] and its backfired....bad

Think about the marketing angle "1000km range" from a Diesel-Falcon, country people and caravan people would have liked it.

The Falcon is dead, shame really, one of the best engineered Aussie cars has but a few more years left to struggle on.

Message to FoA dont even bother with the Taurus, we are not interested in it

[Quicksand]

Originally Posted by RASER

WTF, 4 A DAY, that has to be wrong?

Well that worked out well....not

They could and should have fitted the Terri diesel, i bet they could have sold at least 5 times [20/pcs] that of the econonsense 4cyl job.

They bet the farm, and our taxes of a 4cyl Falcon [who the f would want a 4 cyl Falcon??] and its backfired....bad

Think about the marketing angle "1000km range" from a Diesel-Falcon, country people and caravan people would have liked it.

The Falcon is dead, shame really, one of the best engineered Aussie cars has but a few more years left to struggle on.

Message to FoA dont even bother with the Taurus, we are not interested in it

Like many things, great idea, poor execution. The 4cyl Falcon itself is not a bad idea, but when no-one knows about it, it was always doomed to fail. Ford cannot rely on 'if we build it, they will come' anymore, where every OZ used to have a commo or Falcon out in the driveway. I'm not convinced a diesel Falcon would have done any better with the same level of marketing, and in this current financial climate.

[Joe5619]

Originally Posted by RASER

WTF, 4 A DAY, that has to be wrong?

Well that worked out well....not

They could and should have fitted the Terri diesel, i bet they could have sold at least 5 times [20/pcs] that of the econonsense 4cyl job.

They bet the farm, and our taxes of a 4cyl Falcon [who the f would want a 4 cyl Falcon??] and its backfired....bad

Think about the marketing angle "1000km range" from a Diesel-Falcon, country people and caravan people would have liked it.

The Falcon is dead, shame really, one of the best engineered Aussie cars has but a few more years left to struggle on.

Message to FoA dont even bother with the Taurus, we are not interested in it

Diesel would have flopped just has hard, if they launched it the same way as they have the EB4, IMO

[RASER]

Originally Posted by Joe5619

Diesel would have flopped just has hard, if they launched it the same way as they have the EB4, IMO

Hard to say, the market likes diesel these days, and the Terri sales have really kicked on since they fitted the V6 diesel into it, plus nobody else has a large car at the price with a diesel, all the market to themselves.

FoA MUST do what HQ says, and so fitting a 4cyl was done at a huge expense, we can almost call it a orphan. [4 a day...lol, very sad really]

For mine it they did the following to the IL6 would have been a better thing:

Direct injection
Displacement on demand
Higher compression
Idle stop
MultiAir system from FiatGroup

Would have used LESS fuel than the EcoB [the difference is not that large anyway], MADE IN AUSTRALIA jobs, simple proven design.

It really was a silly thing to fit a 4cyl in a Falcon after selling it with a 6 for more than 50 years.....

[Quicksand]

The SUV market is a different beast Raser...what works in the Mid/Large SUV market doesn't necessarily work in the Large Car market. Plus Terri doesn't have as many variants to contend with, so the sales arent split across so many models. The Falcon range has I6 petrol, I6 LPG, EB4, V8...

The Terri was loooooonngggg overdue a significant change, which is why we are seeing a good pickup in sales there. This is also because diesel seems to sell better in the SUV market, and because Ford marketed the crap out of the new Diesel Terri. The Falcon EB4 got zip...correlation there perhaps?

Ford can put a scooter motor for all i care in the Falcon; but if the whole package isnt executed properly it wont stand a chance in todays market.

[Charliewool]

Just read Septembers Royal Auto (RACV) mag and their verdict on Ecoboost Falcon... https://www.racv.com.au/wps/wcm/conn...alcon+ecoboost
Why they aren't pushing it harder with reviews as positive as this amazes me.

[Drizz06]

Originally Posted by Vormund

Thought this thread was good for this......

Anyone remember the "Have you driven a Ford, lately?" ads?
1989
1990

Well I decided to quickly put together a more recent one; LINK

Would have liked to find some Falcon MKII shots, but couldn't get any decent workable ones from Ford's youtube funnily enough.

Great work Bud! that's brilliant.

[csv8]

FORD ....ads done free..use it !!!

[Quicksand]

Originally Posted by Charliewool

Just read Septembers Royal Auto (RACV) mag and their verdict on Ecoboost Falcon... https://www.racv.com.au/wps/wcm/conn...alcon+ecoboost
Why they aren't pushing it harder with reviews as positive as this amazes me.

Great article, thanks! Had to share this with all of my friends on FB! Someone has to tell them...maybe i should send a bill to Ford Marketing

[csv8]

I drove an Explorer in the States and sorry, Tezza's not a match for it..good as it is, feature or tech its ahead of Tezza, Surely, its not hard to "transplant" some of the Explorer into the Tezza ???? Ford Oz has great engineering..OK , now flame me for running Ford down again..just and honest opinion....and isn't that whats FF is for ???

[Vormund]

Originally Posted by Drizz06

Great work Bud! that's brilliant.

Originally Posted by csv8

FORD ....ads done free..use it !!!

Aww thanks.

I have to say though, that I actually used to edit some TV commercials about 8 years ago. They weren't good though, but I followed the brief. With this Ford ad I was obviously content constrained.

I'd do an ad for Ford Aus for free if they supply me plenty of 1080p footage and a jingle.
Another Ford jingle I liked was this UK one.

Only problem here is Australian ad regulations wouldn't like the line: "Wheels turn, power at your feet, High speed, but you know you're in safe hands."

I think that's the reason can't use the Mazdaspeed name here. It has "speed" in it.

[Buntz]

Originally Posted by csv8

I drove an Explorer in the States and sorry, Tezza's not a match for it..good as it is, feature or tech its ahead of Tezza, Surely, its not hard to "transplant" some of the Explorer into the Tezza ???? Ford Oz has great engineering..OK , now flame me for running Ford down again..just and honest opinion....and isn't that whats FF is for ???

You mentioned tech... what about to drive?

[RASER]

Originally Posted by csv8

I drove an Explorer in the States and sorry, Tezza's not a match for it..good as it is, feature or tech its ahead of Tezza, Surely, its not hard to "transplant" some of the Explorer into the Tezza ???? Ford Oz has great engineering..OK , now flame me for running Ford down again..just and honest opinion....and isn't that whats FF is for ???

With some hope that will become the default SUV for FoA

Soon as the pull the pin on manufacture here, the Exploder, Mustangs, Lincolns [replacement for LTD's?] other AND $30k F150 can lob on our doorstep

The market is SCREAMING for F250's

STOP wasting time and dough flogging a dead horse FoA, the market is not bitting, kill off manufacture here and have a big go importing.

ZAP 1 x F150 thanks....don't get greedy with it either!