Chrysler, Ford Ready Ad Salvos

NEW YORK Chrysler plans to bring back former chief Lee Iacocca while Ford Motor Co. will stress family imagery as the automakers prepare ad responses to General Motors' high-profile employee discount plan.Iacocca will return in ads for Chrysler teamed with comedian Jason Alexander. The push will tout an "Employee Pricing Plus" plan, which has been launched to compete against a similar program undertaken by GM.Omnicom Group's BBDO in Troy, Mich., handles the Chrysler account.Iacocca became famous more than a decade ago for his no-nonsense, folksy ad persona and tagline, "If you can find a better car, buy it." That line will likely grace upcoming ads with Iacocca.The client spent $520 million on ads last year, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.Separately, Ford plans to launch a multimedia campaign, with TV breaking as early as tonight, touting the "Ford Family Plan," said Dave Reuter, director of Ford car public affairs, pricing and incentives.The ads would represent the first time that Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands have ever been marketed together by the factory in their histories, he said.The estimated $50 million push runs through Aug. 1.TV, radio, digital and print executions (which launched yesterday) were crafted by WPP Group's JWT in Detroit. A welcome mat will serve as a logo that ties the campaign together, Reuter said. Rather than show employees and factory workers as GM's campaign had done, Ford ad imagery includes a young mother with child; three generations of one family on the steps of their home, talking; a mother hugging her daughter in a graduation cap and gown; and a mother and toddler on a beach."From an imagery standpoint, we're going for the emotional, family connection both to the plan and to the Ford family," he said. The "hero cars" throughout the campaign will be silver Ford F-150s, Lincoln Navigators and Mercury Montegos, Reuter said.Reuter said all media would include copy such as "You're family. You have a connection. You pay the same low price our employees and their families pay," and "The family deal. Now it's yours." Reuter declined to confirm the cost of the campaign. Ford spent $370 million on ads through April 2005; Lincoln-Mercury spent $115 million during the same period, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.Iacocca, who in the 1980s won a bailout bid from Congress for then-struggling Chrysler, will be represent a company he once attempted to take by force, as part of Kirk Kerkorian's efforts in the mid-1990s to take over Chrysler after Iacocca quit.While the move will certainly have tremendous public-relatons value, some analysts question the wisdom of Chrysler's approach an the "employee discount" gambit.The company, which has lately had the highest levels of cash incentives among the big three, will, like Ford and GM, continue the incentives even as it offers the discounts. (Meanwhile, import brands have resisted, and in fact have kept their incentives spend flat in the face of GM's efforts in June.)"GM has proven over and over and over again you can give cars away," said Todd Turner, president of Car Concepts, Thousand Oaks, Calif. "They can pitch it however they want, but it's basically a reduction of as much as $8,500. They have made sales volume, but at what cost? There's a bigger picture: Toyota's not playing, they aren't going to give away the store just to gain market share."Steve Hill, General Motors' general director, retail marketing, said the employee discount is the first step in a move away from a rebate-driven marketing mind-set, "which leaves consumers confused and, by now, numb toward a simpler pricing equation. What we have done is to net out all the incentives and put one simple number out there. You don't need to bring your calculator, and we're letting the price, the value and quality of the vehicle speak for itself."Analysts such as Jim Sanfilippo of AMCI, Detroit, said all roads lead to transaction pricing (essentially a lower sticker price, rather than greater rebates), because what is coming is an industry-wide pricing war, particularly if GM wins its bid to wean itself from cash incentives. "There will be something like 50 brands in the U.S. market next year, it's not going to take much imagination to see where it's headed," he said. "The magic in transaction pricing is high content and irresistible price; the car doesn't have to be perfect, but GM has to deploy genius in packaging, so when you walk up to the window sticker and look at it you get a pleasant jolt: I'm going to buy this."Turner questions the wisdom of Chrysler's decision to use Iacocca in ads, after the company has spent several years on a positioning that crafts the brand as German-American. "Yes, he got people to trust Chrysler again, but I don't think he will have the same effect now. This is DaimlerChrsyler and I don't know how much anyone really thinks it has anything to do with the old Chrysler." Still, 50 percent of the car market is over 50, and Chrysler can't afford to play second to bat to GM. "Do they get awareness and impact? Of course," Sanfilippo said. "Maybe wisely they figured since they were second in on this [employee discount for everyone] deal, they needed something to differentiate. Iacocca was a 'buy American' guy. He was very much a patriot. But I want to see the commercials, so does everyone else and that's the point."This story updates an item posted earlier today with details of Ford's ad plan.

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Chrysler, Ford Ready Ad Salvos

Gregory Solman

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Gregory Solman