Ford asks employees and dealers for help

Ford is asking it's employees, retirees, and dealers to help spread the word of their new ad campaign. This campaign dares consumer to test drive a Ford vehicle. The name given to it is "Drive One." The VP of Marketing and Communications says this campaign isn't about how fancy the ads are but it's about talking to the consumer and them spreading the word to their friends. Last year, Ford spent $1.76 billion in advertising but that didn't increase sales. After some research by Ford, they found that after people test drive their cars then their interest to buy increases.

Ford's former campaign was the head-to-head approach by having consumer test drive 3 cars. They drove a Ford Fusion, Toyota Camry, and Honda Accord. The Fusion was chosen over the other 2, which were the top sellers in their category. But Ford has chosen to take a new approach and drop this campaign. They didn't give a reason for ending this campaign.

I feel Ford is making a good move. I agree that a consumer will feel much more comfortable about buying a new/used car after once test driving it. To be honest, I don't know anyone who wouldn't test drive a car before buying it. The campaign is similar to the one they are dropping buy having the consumer still test drive a car. But with this new campaign, they are focusing more on the consumer and not so much on the advertising part. They want the consumers to really do their advertising for them by telling their friends what a great experience they had with Ford. The former campaign did give the consumer more variety then just driving a Ford. But I feel this would have been very time consuming and most people are so fast paced that this would have been a problem. Most people wouldn't want to be at a dealership for hours on end test driving cars. Ford is making a good move by switching to a new campaign. I hope they have a lot of success with it.