Ford Rebrands Dealers as SUV 'Outfitters'

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Ford Motor Co. will launch an estimated $50 million image campaign rebranding its dealerships as “Outfitters” for Ford SUVs.
Ford’s SUV sales are healthy–up 11 percent for the first six months of 1999 vs. the same period last year–but the SUV category is increasingly cluttered. Among the new entries are the Nissan Xterra and Cadillac’s Escalade. A new Chevrolet Suburban will launch in the fall. Rather than add to the cacophony of messages about individual SUVs, Ford is hoping that the “Outfitters” campaign will get consumers to think of Ford’s SUVs as a single, branded concept.
Ford will continue advertising individual models, but the “Outfitters” image umbrella will increase the total SUV budget for the fourth quarter and next year, sources said.

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