Ford Motor Company, Sample Marketing

Ford Motor Company, Sample Marketing Plan

Marketing Objectives a) Environmental analysis:

Ford Motors completed 100 years in 2003 to become one of the world's biggest corporations. Few companies are considered synonymous with the history and development of industry to which it represents and society throughout the 20th century as the Ford Motor Company. The most remarkable contribution of the company to automotive manufacturing was the moving assembly line which was implemented at its Highland Park facility in Michigan, U.S. during 1913 wherein the new technique permitted individual workers to remain positioned in a particular place and perform the same task consistently on multiple vehicles which passed by them. This ensured immense efficiency, helping the company produce more vehicles than the competition at lesser price. Founder, Henry Ford believed that the future of the company lay in the production of cars which are affordable for the mass market. (History: The Dream becomes the Business)

Making a debut with Model T. In 1908, Ford went on to manufacture 15 million Model T's and in 1925 it acquired Lincoln Motors thereby diversifying in luxury cars and during the 1930s, the Mercury division was created to found a division focused on mid-priced cars. The 1950s saw the arrival of the Thunderbird and the 1960s saw the global expansion of Ford in Europe in 1967. Today Ford is a formidable name in the world of automobiles with enviable brands like Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda, Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin and Volvo. Ford in into the second century of its life with a global organization which retains people and broadens Henry Ford's heritage by developing products which serve the divergent and constantly changing needs of people within the global community. (History: The Dream becomes the Business) b) SWOT Analysis:

Strengths: (i) Ford has been a frontrunner in research on new fuel technology that is clean; more energy effective holding enough promise to replace the gasoline powered engines in future. Its new fuel cell technology is focused on an electric engine that uses hydrogen fuel and not on batteries and emits only water as a byproduct. (ii) Another model being developed by Ford is the Modular Hybrid Transmission System using electric motor and a hydrogen internal combustion engine which is a parallel system using either or both of the engines as power. Its emission does not contain any pollutants and is 25% more fuel efficient compared to gasoline. (iii) Ford's USP all along has been passenger safety and it has been in its constant endeavor to better the performance of its airbags and safety belts as also inventing ways to minimize injuries during rollover accidents. (Going Deep Inside Ford Motor Company)

Weakness: (i) Outstanding debts has been an area of concern for Ford for which it has to reserve more than $25 billion in cash to help defer some of its debts with the result that its stock prices have taken a beating. (ii) It is yet to recover from the $5.45 billion in losses incurred in the year 2001, and $980 million in the year 2002. (iii) The overall poor performance of the car sales market and the economy as a whole which is a generic factor has also been a dampener. Ford's inventories are for 83 days implying that it has to cut production levels. (Going Deep Inside Ford Motor Company)

Opportunities: Its pioneering in new technologies with several advanced research efforts includes (i) Diesel powered light-duty vehicles which are being developed and tested, as Ford studies plans to launch a diesel-powered Ford Focus for the N. American market in future. Diesel technology gives advantages in fuel efficiency in the range of 25% to 30% compared to gasoline vehicle. This fuel economy enhances into a 20% to 25% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. (Ford Motor Company's Vision for the next 100 years: Great Products, Strong Business, Better World) ii) The Ford Focus Fuel Cell Vehicle -- FCV is undergoing fleet testing in the U.S. And Canada. The hydrogen fueled convoy is a constituent of a three-year program designed in order to test cell vehicles in real-world applications. The goals of the program comprises of testing of technology, assessment of driver acceptance, assessing comfort with hydrogen fueling and generating public consciousness on the advantages of and challenges which are being posed by introducing fuel cell technologies. The Ford Focus FCV does not form any emissions, and fuel-cell technology is shown to provide about two times the fuel economy of gasoline and diesel engines.

A iii) The Ford Model U. concept is equipped with the world's first supercharged internal combustion engine -- ICE that is optimized to operate on hydrogen fuel. The research project is viewed as a launching pad to hydrogen fueled mass transportation which ultimately will include fuel cells. Akin to the diesel engine, the hydrogen ICE has the potential to attain efficiency levels which is nearly 25% better compared to gasoline engines. (Ford Motor Company's Vision for the next 100 years: Great Products, Strong Business, Better World)

Threats: Competitive threats by rival car makers like Toyota who is also adopting hybrid gasoline-electric motors due to which Ford might lose its competitive edge on the fuel efficiency front. Besides with record fuel prices curtailing the demand for conventional automobiles, the concept of hybrid gasoline electric motors will be a generic feature in other major car manufacturers like Honda, BMW etc. In fact Ford bought its hybrid technology from Toyota. Competitor Toyota has also been the first adopter in environmental technology which it will continue to pursue in future years. With public policies clamoring for reduced vehicle emission and cleaner fuels, the coming years will be a challenge to meet the leadership position in these areas. (Katz; Inque, 2005)

The firm's overall corporate objectives:

i) The overall corporate objectives of the company revolves around its vision to be the world's biggest consumer company for automotive products and services for offering personal mobility for people across the world. (ii) Anticipating need of the consumer and delivering outstanding products and services helping people enhance their lives. (Ford Motor Company: Overview) Ford's commitment to the cause of the environment is total and enhancing the fuel economy of their vehicles. Ford supports programs which promote the development of breakthrough technologies, inclusive of customer incentives for advanced technologies like fuel cells, hybrid electric vehicles, and alternative vehicles. (Ford Motor Company: Fuel Economy) Ford is dedicated in bringing environmentally responsible and life-saving technologies to market its vehicles on a mass scale. This commitment is espoused in their 'Cleaner, Sooner, Safer' policy. The company is keen on meeting the safety and environmental standards ahead of regulations whenever the technology is proven one and the activities are affordable to the customers. Ford has been the leader within the industry in introduction of the Personal Safety System that combines several technologies to safeguard the occupants of the front-seat during head-on clashes. (Ford Motor Company: Advanced Vehicle Technology) d) The organization's resources:

i) The most valued organizational resource of Ford has been use of the latest technology in every aspect of its automobiles be it engine technology, fuel efficiency, passenger safety, bringing out new models etc. The company has taken a leadership role in fuel cell technology that ensures zero tailpipe emissions and hold potential for replacing conventional vehicles. (Ford Motor Company: Fuel Cells) To meet this end was launched the Freedom Car to which President Bush announced $1.2 billion research funding which is the joint Govt. And auto industry partnership stated by the Department of Energy. (Ford Motor Company: Freedom Car) (ii) Another area of organizational resource pertains to the area of leadership which has been considered to be an important element of strength of the success of the Ford Company. It has veteran leaders like that of Allen Golmour who even though had retired sometime back, but returned to the company when he was called in again to offer his services. Bill Ford, the CEO of the Ford has immensely enabled to promote the fortunes of the company by means of reducing the cost factor. This has brought about a reduction of about $240 per vehicle and this also brought about a decline of the value of $2 billion in terms of overhead costs. Further it also was able to sell above $1 billion in terms of assets that enabled to bring about a massive enhancement in terms of cash. (Ford Motor Company: eRoom enables Ford to drive into new technology) iii) Ford has always been a leader in strategic implementation of Information technology. Ever since its inception during the 1980s, Ford Intranet has graduated from a search engine to an information centre, to a highly customized work environment facilitating new business models and novel ways of working for Ford employees across the globe that enjoys 1, 50,000 hits daily from 800 facilities and 150 manufacturing plants across the world. Named eRoom which is the keystone of Ford's extended enterprise collaboration. eRoom provides the security and flexibility that the company requires to employ strong collaborative remedies throughout the entire enterprise and at the same time seamlessly collaboratively with Ford's existing technology infrastructure. (Ford Motor Company: eRoom enables Ford to drive into new technology)

II. Marketing Strategies:

Target Market: Target Market 1

This market consists of institutional sales with large manufacturers or independent manufacturing divisions of corporations having a huge network of broker, dealer or distributor network. For these categories the ideal vehicle suited will be the sports wagon and minivans. Only last January, the managers publicized the Ford Fairline concept at the Detroit Auto Show as their vision a new 'people mover' being a minivan category of vehicle. The Fairlane was on Ford's Mazda6-based CD 3 platform. However the plan has developed to an analogous styled vehicle which is built on Ford's larger D3 platform that started with Volvo. The two are front-wheel-drive platforms. Through the period of 2010, Ford will depend immensely on these two car platforms. The initial three vehicles on the Mazda-based CD3 platform which are the Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan and Lincoln Zephyr will be launched in the autumn of this year. The Volvo-based D3 platform that traces its beginning to the Volvo XC90 will be utilized for at least eight North American models, inclusive of a trio of Lincolns. (Wilson, 2005)

Target Market 2:

The marketing strategy for this category of customer should be the website of the company ford.com. In the web site will be inclusive of a showroom, information regarding Ford services and a dealer locator. Ford's early adoption has developed over the years into a virtual worldwide network of 5,000 dealers known as DealerConnection which are websites for five Ford automobile brands. At the time while the Internet started to emerge as a powerful marketing tool, Ford Motor initially started to stake out territory as a corporate entity. Very soon Ford acknowledged the value of each dealership having its own web presence. However along with its corporate identity and brand concerns, Ford had built up a dealer population who have a few computer skills and devoid of any ability to link to the Internet. (Ford Motor Company: ChannelNet Drives Qualified Leads for 5,000 Ford Motor Company Dealers Worldwide)

As a solution, ChannelNet the web partner joined hands with Ford to meet the following objectives in designing and implementing the DealerConnection. (i) make sure that every dealer website preserved the Ford brand and presented an exceptional customer experience (ii) including sales and marketing tools which motivated dealers to prevail over their resistance and participate in the web initiative. (iii) Let dealers to control dealership-specific text, images and promotions and to alter or update content in real time, without having the technical skills. (iv) Provide training not just in the DealerConnection solution, but also with regard to the fundamental computer skills and Internet best practices. (Ford Motor Company: ChannelNet Drives Qualified Leads for 5,000 Ford Motor Company Dealers Worldwide)

Target Market 3:

For the consumers representing this category of the market, it is acknowledged as one of the largest growth segments in the automotive business and is exhibiting some interesting trends. For instance data reveal that 50% of the consumers of this category personalize their vehicles from the time they purchase them and it is expected that they will buy 2 million vehicles in 2006 and as much as 4 million in 2010. Ford Focus is already popular among the young female customers and the new kit is an ideal match for the new genre of females. The Ford Mustang 2005 is a next-generation futuristic vehicle featuring an industry first, color-configurable instrument cluster which is among one of the several innovative features appearing on the car. (Ford is tuned in to Tuner Market)

Target Market 4:

For this category of consumer that forms the industrial segment, it would be through Trade shows and industrial exhibitions that the customer will be catered to. Apart from that the DealerConnection web portal which shows the look and feel of the Ford web site will have to be extended into a fast and reliable and feasible platform which is inclusive of the thousand of dealer sites across the world for the Ford Motor company like Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln and Mercury brands. Overall, the DealerConnection's "user interface, customer experience, brand management, content integration and management, and marketing characteristics" have transformed it into the most sophisticated online sales channel within the automotive industry. Individual dealer websites preserve the Ford brand, whereas every dealership will be able to customize its site along with the local promotions, images, content and contact information. (Ford Motor Company: ChannelNet Drives Qualified Leads for 5,000 Ford Motor Company Dealers Worldwide)

II. B. Marketing Mix:

J. Walter Thompson -- JWT who handles Ford's the direct sales activities through Interactive Advertising on TV is an innovator in the interactive space and was one of the first agency to work with Open TV's Wink on behalf of Ford. JWT enlisted Open TV's wink to assist in driving the brand awareness as also sales of car. Open TV's Wink crafted an interactive improvement for the commercial which would act as the lead generator for the car brochure. Ford's marketing goal was just to test this exciting new medium and to figure out the manner in which it could positively influence their campaign. In case of Ford, interactive advertisement can be regarded as either a part of the initial creative process while developing novel integrated marketing campaigns or as additional marketing tactics. At times, the creative is motivated by the interactivity and at times interactivity is derived from the creative. The communication strategy encompassing the campaign motivates the message and the media vehicles chosen with interactivity promote the over-arching message. (Success Story: Ford Motor Company)

Open TV's Wink enhanced interactive application meant for Ford expedition campaign reflected their CRM efforts and provided the users an opportunity to pick up and a customized brochure in an interesting novel manner. Apart from that Ford received data revealing the demographic profile of the people who viewed the advertisement. The creative team of Open TV's Wink was associated closely with Ford to improve upon the design of the interactive application such that it worked properly with the temper of the overall campaign. The graphics were designed for creating maximum influence and the easiness in response. The commercial consisted of a beautifully shot teaser ad that did not show the car till the final 15 seconds after the emotion was at high levels. The campaign possessed one of the highest interaction and Take rates for all of Open TVs Wink automotive campaigns with 2.3% of the viewers launching the interactive application and 64% of the viewers requesting for a brochure.