Ford At The Sms

[Mitchy_G]

Fella's, just wondering what you thought of the Ford stand at the Sydney Motor Show. Personally I thought there could have been a bit more effort put into it, considering there was only cars that you can see at any normal Ford dealership (apart from the Territory, details of which have been known for ages). I regret to say that the number of people at the Expensive Daewoo stand while I was their far outweighed the number at Ford's.

In my opinion the number of people that were gawking at the all-wheel drive Monaro (the area was packed) should be an indication to Ford that people like seeing something different, even if that something has no intension of going into production at the end of the day. At least this shows that the company is not standing still and that they are probing to see what the public is interested in.

From this, am I right to come to the conclusion that Ford is not taking full advantage of the superior product it currenly has?

It is pretty obvious that Ford has the upper hand in the engine department over Expensive Daewoo at the moment, so what is being done to exploit this advantage before Expensive Daewoo introduce thier new V6? I still remember the hype when the Gen 3 was released, so shouldn't Ford be doing the same now?

I know, just like everyone else on here, that Ford have a great car in the BA, and I would hate to think they are loosing sales out to Holden, or anyone else, because they are unable to market their product in an effective way. It is silly to think (but I'm sure it happens) that people who do not know a great deal about cars buy a certain brand simply because it is marketed to them in a more effective way. I think this shows how important it is to keep people interested in your product (the Monaro proves this), so maybe Ford (or FPV) should have knocked up a FPV T6 or a GTHO, which could have drawn back the crowds.

Anyway the above is just my opinion, so what do you guys think?

[Mondie]

Ford missed an excellent marketing opportunity IMO. Expensive Daewoo have picked up so much free press out of the SMS and caused much discussion at a time when it really matters. Ford have nosed ahead of Expensive Daewoo for the first time in years and really needed to capitalise on their position, but didnt.

Expensive Daewoo must be pi$$ing themselves laughing

[Falchoon]

  Mitchy_G said:

Personally I thought there could have been a bit more effort put into it, considering there was only cars that you can see at any normal Ford dealership (apart from the Territory, details of which have been known for ages).

My thoughts exactly, that's why I didn't go. Not interested in Territory, very interested in a FPV T6 but there was not one to look at. GTs are nice, but I don't need to drive 6 hours/600km to see one, my local dealer has them in stock.

There have been figures bandied around that it costs over a million dollars to have a stand at SMS, if that's the best that Ford could come up with for the money, well they should of spent it elsewhere...like building a FPV T6! Even another useless concept car like R5 or Predator would of been better than just emptying one of the Ford dealership showrooms. Very poor effort Ford (yet again).

[Guest esky]

I must admit I haven’t paid to go to the SMS for years, as I end up getting free tickets from places.

I just don’t like the fact that I should pay to get in so that car companies can advertise to me.

Secondly, the majority of cars are one’s that you can see at any dealership on Parramatta road. And half the concept cars never make into reality; ie HRT427

The problem with the Ford stand, is that there was no ‘WOW’ factor!

If I was in charge of the Ford stand WOW factor, I would have had a worked RS Cosworth Focus, a phat GTHO with some form of shaker and a lightweight hi powered XR6T called the XRsicT .

esky

[whatever]

Ford needs to look into their marketing department and find out why it is so out of touch with the comsumers. Ford needs to have a more agressive propaganda program.

[Mitchy_G]

  esky said:

The problem with the Ford stand, is that there was no ‘WOW’ factor!

  Quote

That about sums it up :(

[ducatijb]

Ford don't have a marketing arm and if they do it should be sacked

Look at the TV adds compared to Holden's,still watching the same one after 7 months compared to Holden's 10 different ones

They seem to think sponsoring football and tennis championships is a better way to sell cars-Wankers

I also didn't attennd the SMS because there were no updated turbo's,the only new Ford was a box on wheels,whoopee

[Mitchy_G]

I wonder if anyone from Ford has seen some of the posts on this site, because I'm sure they could learn a lot!

[Guest Turbo-6]

What's the go with the leather/suede interior of the XR8 on display? It also had colour-coded XR logos on the seats! Is this what you get when you option leather on an XR8?

[Buf-Phoon]

All,

Unfortunately the marketing issue isn't just endemic to Ford,due to the transient nature of marketing folk ( yes I will get flamed for this generalisation), there is lack of continuity and thus a lack of a consistent and adhered to strategic marketing plans , there is a very much a generational issue in so much as " wot can I do for me rather than how do I do the best for the brand"

Why can GMH continue to out do us ? mmmmm .staff retention ?