Focus ads a new start for 'communication'?

Ford has argued long and hard that the advertising campaign for the FG Falcon has garnered more 'recognition' for the car than Falcon advertising campaigns in the past. Yet there are some who argue equally hard that the current car's campaign is just too soft -- and somewhat inaccessible for those who like their car ads to say it like it is.

Has that message been received loud and clear at Broadmeadows? The new Focus TV commercial suggests it has. This ad has been running for a few weeks and highlights how the European-designed small car compares with its competitors in its respective VFACTS market segment. It's a straightforward, no-nonsense infomercial (with no walking fingers or ethnic diversity) to highlight the Focus's virtues.

Senior management at Ford has recognised for some time (we count at least three Ford Australia presidents now -- see here and more here) that Ford locally has something of a brand image issue.

Is Ford struggling to convince ideologically inflexible Holden, Mazda and Toyota buyers to change sides with advertising that addresses the company image, when the advertising might serve a better purpose just appealing to the canny buyer instead -- as the latest Focus ad does?

Incumbent Ford President, Marin Burela believes that the company needs to be more transparent in the way it interacts with prospective buyers.

"I've been very deliberate, on my return to Australia, about making sure we communicate in a way that our customers can understand what we're saying," he told journalists during the monthly sales briefing today.

"That means visual communication as well as words," he said, in reference to the latest Focus ad.

"Is it a deliberate action in terms of the way we move forward? The answer is 'yes', because quite frankly, if people don't know, they're never going to make a choice in our favour.

"We decided to run with the Focus campaign and ad -- and surprise, surprise, we sold 1400 Focuses in October."

1400 units for October was in line with the small car's average monthly performance, based on this year to date, but that figure placed the Focus over 300 units ahead of Holden's Astra, a car that has been within striking distance of the Focus all year.

Even now, with the Focus's significantly better sales performance during October, the Astra remains just 16 units shy of the Ford's year-to-date sales figure. In other words, without the TV ad and other contributing factors to put the Focus's sales figure for October 300 units ahead of Astra, the Holden would have been in front.

Also significant for the Focus is the fact that its October '08 sales figure -- in poorer market conditions -- was over 400 units ahead of Focus sales during the sunny days of October 2007. So there's pretty good reason to suspect that the television commercial may have played a strong part in the Focus's improved result last month.

The value of the ad, if any, will rest on whether it can continue to bring more Focus buyers out of the woodwork in coming months. If it can manage that trick, a similar commercial could benefit other Ford models too.

"Now, will we expand that to other car lines?" Burela mused.

"Haven't decided as yet. I think what we're going to do is allow Focus to continue to run for a little bit longer and then make a decision after that."

The question sidetracked Burela, who put forward his point of view concerning Ford Australia's brand image, since the Focus TV commercial seems to have cast the whole issue in sharp relief.

"One thing I've learnt very quickly, here in Australia: once upon a time, people used to love the Ford brand. People in Australia do not hate the Ford brand. In some areas, they just don't understand it, because we've actually not communicated with them that we have a portfolio of products that caters to their needs.

"Our objective going forward is going to be: how do we make the Ford brand [relevant] to their needs? How do we communicate the strengths across the total portfolio and how do we go out there and ensure that people start to have a love affair with the Ford Motor Company again?

"In some cases, that will be driven by the introduction of the new Fiesta. We need to go out there and use Mondeo to help us with that. The 'C-Car' [Focus] when we [commence producing it locally] in 2011 will be a huge enabler to that. Our commercial business has huge opportunities with the small business people and medium-sized businesses. We need to go out there and communicate with them...

"So I just think there are huge opportunities out there guys -- and what we need to do is just go out there and prioritise where we're going to put our resources to make ends meet."

There's little doubt that Ford will be hanging on the new Fiesta's market impact when it goes on sale here at the end of January next year, and the company has already said that it intends to stir up some fleet buyer interest in the Mondeo. Furthermore, Burela sees some real potential in the development of Ford's commercial vehicle sales -- and the right sort of advertising will be imperative in all those cases.

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