The economy has been hard on certain sectors, particularly to the American automotive industry. Still, group VP-global marketing at Ford Motor Company Jim Farley thinks that it’s beneficial to the digital media front.
“Everything has to work in this economy,” said Farley. “If the economy hadn’t dropped the way it did, we would have been on auto pilot and not experimented the way we did. Our production quality online is better than our broadcast.”
“It’s the most important transition we are making,” he continued. “I can tell a story in 15 seconds now on TV, but I want customers to tell our story. That’s what digital has shown us: how to earn credibility among consumers.”
Farley noted that Ford has done all it can to focus on its main brand, and for the first time in 14 years, the company has grown its market share in the U.S. “We shrank the company to make it grow, and to do that we transitioned our marketing, especially in the digital space,” said Farley. “One out of every four dollars we spend is on digital, but we totally transformed how that money is being spent. We spend it mid-funnel. We’re transitioning most of our digital spend to convincing consumers they should put Ford on their shopping lists. And the evidence shows we have made some great strides, and we are starting to see consumer sentiment change. We have a long way to go, but the quality sentiment is changing.”
Source: Ad Age {link no longer active}
