Ford's marketing of the FFH & C-Max

[corncobs]

This is how Ford should be marketing the Fusion & its advanced driver assistance technologies!

http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1093086_drivers-leap-from-moving-cars-to-test-hyundai-genesis-safety-system-video

 

Cool way of showing safety technology!

[Ryan Goodlett]

My dad and I went to the Twin Cities Auto Show today. I was disappointed in the Ford display. They had one Fusion Hybrid S (out of 4 Fusions), one C-Max Hybrid, but no Energi models at the Ford display; and there was one MKZ Hybrid at the Lincoln display (out of 5 MKZs). In the special "Green Room" they had a C-Max Energi and Fusion Energi (but the Fusion Energi was locked so you couldn't get in it :cry:). I sure wish they would display more of them. I overhead a number of people asking the Ford employees about the hybrid/Energi models. I listened to couple of the Ford employees explaining about them and, while they did better than most dealership employees, they didn't do a very good job selling the potential customers on the advantages of the hybrids. One even just reverted to talking about the Ecoboost Fusion, ignoring the request for information about the hybrid. When the Ford employees won't even promote the hybrids when a potential customer asks for information about them, that says a lot and is extremely disappointing.

 

Auto shows are unique animal. We all want to see different things as consumers and Ford wants to show certain things as a manufacturer. Many of the cars you see on the auto show circuit are hand built cars. They were originally prototypes / first 10 cars built and they spend their life after testing / fitments / design changes as the manikins of the car world. then you add that aside from the major auto shows in Detroit and LA you wont hardly see a Ford person in sight. Even at the Detroit and LA, they are wandering around looking at other manufacturers models. Marketing groups work all shows. Ford has several of them that are divided up among different groups....trucks, cars, type of event, etc. For example there was one marketing group that had the trucks and cars that were outside at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. There was another marketing group that had some Ford trailers, cutaway engines, and special response vehicles. the vehicles inside the arena were manned by salesmen from local dealerships. Often the ones that a dealer can do without for that time slot. Tours and training are handled by different marketing companies.

[gf2020]

This is a fairly old thread but I can understand why Ford isn't doing more to specifically market the Fusion Hybrid and Energi. They represent less than 1 in 6 of every Fusion sold. If Ford markets the Fusion model in general, the buyers who are inclined to consider a hybrid or plug-in hybrid will tend to find those models on their own. According to Ford's own sales data, 70% of Fusion Hybrid and Energi buyers are new to the Ford brand.

[hybridbear]

Chrysler has got it right with the new commercials for the new 200. They advertise that is has Forward Collision Warning & Lane Keep Assist. They highlight the safety features as a reason to buy it. I can't find the commercial anywhere online though but I see it every day when watching Around the Horn on the Watch ESPN app on my phone.

 

Infiniti has also done it right.

http://youtu.be/Id8CQ-vsojQ

[acdii]

Yep, Ford missed the boat way too many times on their exclusive safety features, now that all the rest have them, no longer exclusive. Does Chrysler actually assist, or just warn like all the others?

[hybridbear]

Yep, Ford missed the boat way too many times on their exclusive safety features, now that all the rest have them, no longer exclusive. Does Chrysler actually assist, or just warn like all the others?

I think the Chrysler actually assists for the lane keep system because it's called "Lane Keep Assist". Other systems are called "Lane Watch" or "Lane Departure Warning".

[hybridbear]

Fusion Energi commerical:

http://youtu.be/U4NVfKvfjCo

 

Another one the features the Energi and other Fords:

 

These are better commercials. Has anyone else seen other recent Fusion commercials that are better than the old commercials? What about C-Max advertising?

[acdii]

Only one I see is with the goofy lights hanging down. Why car commercials do that, dont know, but GM does it too. The new Cmax ones show the car, some features, and claims are now based on miles per tank instead of miles per gallon. Pretty sad though when you consider the old FFH got up to 700 miles per tank.