Does experiential marketing go far enough?

Ford Australia could justify hijacking the ancient advertising slogan first coined by Avis: 'We try harder'.

It's a slogan that encourages consumers to try the product or service of an underdog — and just as Avis was second fiddle to Hertz back in the 1960s, so is Ford a runner-up to Holden in the local manufacturing stakes.

That 'try harder' approach was never more apparent than at the Australian International Motor Show in Melbourne last month. In contrast with Holden's stand, which was all about the cars and merchandise, Ford piled on the interactive attractions to draw in the consumers.

Among them were an AFL handball competition, slot cars featuring motor sport-liveried Focus RS models, ECOnetic and EcoBoost 'touch tables' (pictured), a driving simulator based around the new LW Focus, a T6 Ranger-based capability simulator — and more besides. It paid dividends too, according to Ford's VP of Marketing, Sales & Service, Beth Donovan.

"For us, we had by far the most dwell time of any of the stands. That was coming from the motor show people..." she told motoring.com.au earlier this week.

There were queues on the Ford stand — people lining up to try one or the other of the attractions. That sort of interest becomes self-perpetuating too.

"It's like restaurants on Lygon Street in Carlton; you know which ones are good to go to because they have a queue," explained Donovan.

Does motor show interest translate into retail sales though? One anecdote that supports the view for the affirmative is the Mondeo wagon, which was first exhibited in Australia at the former Melbourne International Motor Show in 2008. That vehicle attracted a lot of attention at the time and Mondeo sales for the year to date (3981 sold so far in 2011) are running over a thousand units ahead of where the mid-size car's sales were back in 2008 — although some will argue it also took killing the Falcon wagon to achieve that.

While interest in a particular brand or model at a motor show may not readily convert to foot traffic in a dealership, it hints at emotional investment in the brand. How then do you get people to go from passive observers to retail prospects? If interactivity on the stand works, can that be taken further — behind the wheel of a real car?

The well-trodden path of taking a prospective buyer on a test drive doesn't seem to deliver much value for the consumer, but according to Donovan Ford dealers also run drive days and will even allow prospective buyers to take a demonstrator home for the night. Lots of car companies and their dealer networks do the same.

But drive days won't provide the punter with an opportunity to see what the opposition has to offer. Not everybody knows for sure what car they're going to buy; sometimes they want to be able to make an informed decision based on a direct comparison between the car they think they want and its rivals. There's no Ford-sanctioned program of that kind in place however and nor does any other car company conduct similar retail clinics. Where does that leave the buyer who is more committed to the act of buying, less committed to the brand or model?

"We have some dealers that are in metropolitan markets — they might be in an auto mall setting — and they'll actively do it as a group," said Donovan in response to that question. "There's a big belief in just drawing the [foot] traffic. We believe our vehicles, as Fords, can stand on their own against competition — but we welcome that opportunity, because [buyers] get the chance to drive them side by side."

"You're not going to buy a vehicle in a vacuum; you've already done all your research across the marketplace. You're probably going to drive two or three cars... and the way that the dealers see it is they get a chance to drive other products..."

Donovan doesn't say as much, but she appears to welcome initiatives like these from Ford's dealer network and the dealer's competitors.

"It can be daunting for people who have to go all over the place," she said. Being able to drive two or three different cars in the same competitor set with the cooperation of dealers within a stone's throw of each other would not only help each customer make up his or her mind, but would put them at ease in a situation that is often felt to be highly stressful.

"What we find is the customer feels like they're in an environment where we're giving them the opportunity to evaluate, as opposed to putting it all on them... 'you drive it and tell us what you think — and I'll be happy to answer all your questions'," Donovan remarked.

However, there remains an expectation that a salesperson is still out to make a sale. It's not like a wine tasting; Donovan said that buying a car is just about the single biggest buying decision in life, now that fewer people can afford to buy homes. Any sort of time spent at a dealership leaves the buyer wary and the entire sale process may not be to their liking, no matter how good the new car looks — on paper, in the showroom or out on the road.

What about taking the salesperson out of the equation? Is the motor show a fitting place where people could test drive competitor sets of cars if the show organisers were willing to allow it?

"I think the jury's still out on [whether] that works in a motor show environment — that you have cars for people to drive at the motor show," replied Donovan. There's a logistical challenge to such an initiative also.

"The customer doesn't want to get out there and sit in traffic, right?" she explained.

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