Toyota Flops, Ford Immediately Drops all Pretense of Marketing to Women

By Rudy Socha

Lorain, OH - As a woman, have you ever been a relationship where you were crazy about a partner and then later discovered they were far from being crazy about you? And then at some point you finally are able to take a step back and observe the things your friends have been telling you all along? Ever have it happen with a brand you just love? Well if you own a Ford vehicle and you love your vehicle, take a step back and take a look at their advertising campaigns.

Let me be that friend and show you what has been right in front of your eyes but due to the passionate love you have for your brand you may have overlooked it. Worse, you may have seen it and made an excuse on their behalf. First let me set the stage. In order to do so, I am making some generalizations and there are a percentage of exceptions on both sides. When men have a choice of what to do with their male friends, many will go hunting, fishing, or attend sporting events. When women have a choice of what to do with their female friends, many will go see a movie, take the kids to zoos and aquariums, shop, or go out to dinner.

Now what happens in a relationship is usually couples compromise and while some women will not hunt and fish (some do), almost all will go with their guy to the hunting and fishing store. Given the opportunity, most women will also attend sporting events with him. In return, and in order to maintain a good relationship with their significant other, most guys will see a “chick-flick” or participate in something of her choice as payback for any days out with the guys doing “guy stuff”.

Now let’s look at both venues. For years, Ford has worked with the mega-fishing/hunting stores to have one of their pick up trucks outside on the front sidewalk at as many of these facilities as possible. Same goes for every major stadium in the country.

Now let’s look at venues for women. It is rare and based solely on a single local dealer’s initiative that you will ever see a Ford vehicle on the sidewalk outside a movie theater, zoo or aquarium, craft fair, etc.

Ford has always been a macho vehicle manufacturer. Their profit driver has always been full size pick up trucks. These vehicles require very little design work from year to year and they have a very high profit margin. Ford is also a company famous for the Shelby and muscle car mustangs.

As a macho company, I believe Ford has always subliminally advertised in a way that said “maybe her man can guide her to pick the right brand” when she needs a car. We need to convince him that we are the best brand in the market.

I posted an article last month about the market share Toyota has been able to take away from Ford and GM. Several communications executives contacted me responding to the article and informed me that they wanted to reconsider a proposal to increase their profile in zoos and aquariums, a market dominated by women with children. It was a very small and insignificant proposal in the total picture of Ford’s advertising budget and sponsorships.

However, that review for inclusion came to an abrupt halt within hours of Toyota’s implosion announcing they had stopped manufacturing and selling cars. Ford informed me that any consideration for entry into this segment of the women’s market was off the table and it would apply to all brands.

Within the intelligence community there is a saying that whenever you review an event, never call any simultaneous event a “coincidence”. Their job is to figure out what role this “coincidence” played in the action taken. In this case, to me the obvious answer is that Ford no longer considers Toyota a threat to taking additional market share. At least not in the immediate future. The action taken was to immediately revert back to the type of advertising they feel is tried and true – advertise to the men and
“let her man guide her to chose the right brand”.

Women, the next time you are out with your friends, look and see if there is a Ford vehicle being marketed to you. Wherever your man happens to be, you can bet Ford will be there advertising to him and putting their faith in the fact that he will guide you towards making the right choice. I will concede that Ford is not alone in this marketing philosophy. This is the way it always has been in advertising and many other brands spend the bulk of their budget on sports marketing and advertising to men.

Rudy Socha is CEO of Zoo and Aquarium Visitor http://www.zandavisitor.com. Zoo and aquarium visitor is an online media company focused on delivering current zoo and aquarium news to the 300 million Americans visiting animal attractions each year. His email address is rudy@zandavisitor.com  

PS – Ford was asked twice this past week to comment on this article and declined both times.