Road To Salvation?

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When faced with customer and dealer dissatisfaction, not to mention a tough year at the pumps, what’s an ailing car manufacturer to do? Ford went for a change of attitude with its “Bold moves” campaign, a combination of transparent marketing (via Webisodes that feature, among other things, assessments of its past and present performances), emotional appeals (interviews with rank-and-file workers, profiles of everyday people) and product-oriented work with an emphasis on drivers rather than sheet metal.

Tom Cordner, then Ford’s worldwide cd at its lead shop, JWT Detroit, recalls telling Mark Fields, Ford evp and president of the Americas, “If it truly is do or die for Ford, then [‘Bold moves’] is your line.”

BACKGROUND

Ford has been battered.





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