Ford Marketing: Restore the Trust
February 12, 2008

Ford Motor Co. plans to unveil a new marketing campaign in March or April that works to restore consumer trust in the Dearborn automaker's products, according to Jim Farley, Ford's group vice president of marketing and communications.

"The key elements are" to "restore the trust," he said Sunday, following a meeting with Ford dealers in San Francisco at the National Automobile Dealers Association's annual convention.

Farley is expected to lay out his plan for revamping Ford’s global marketing efforts on the eve of the New York auto show in March.

Ford has made great strides in improving vehicle quality, but it still fights a perception among consumers who remember bad experiences.

Farley was guarded on what he said about the marketing efforts, other than saying they must restore trust on issues such as resale value, safety, quality, advanced technology and using new products to build on what the company wants to highlight.

"All of it," he said. "Go to ... any of the third-party evaluators of corporate image and what they'll first say is that you've got to be honest with people. The second thing they'll say is tell them about the trust factors. And we have a heck of a story."

In its private meetings with dealers, Ford focused on dealer profitability and discussed some specific new programs about those efforts.

Ford, Mercury and Lincoln dealers emerging from meetings with Ford executives said the automaker announced a 1 percent increase in the dealers’ profit margin.

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