|
» July 2008 » June 2008 » May 2008 » April 2008 » March 2008 » February 2008 » January 2008 » December 2007 » November 2007 » October 2007 » September 2007 » August 2007 » July 2007 |
|
|
Subscribe RSS 2.0 feed |
Subscribe Atom feed If you wish to receive email notification, please here » |
« Previous Post | Main | Next Post »
An article in the Jan 28th Businessweek about Ford's plans to revitalize the Lincoln Brand describes two challenges facing Ford:
1) Lincoln's older customers have chauffeurs. They don't actually want to drive one.
2) Lincolns are the car of choice for funeral homes. Nobody wants to drive a hearse.
Ford has lured a former Toyota executive (James D. Farley) to turn Lincoln around. Farley believes Lincoln's past can actually be a blessing -- not a curse. Affluent consumers already associate Lincoln with luxury. Why tinker with that? Instead, Ford will create new designs. Instead of a glitzy, rock and roll based broadcast advertising campaign (aka Cadillac's recent efforts), Lincoln will rely "extensively on word of mouth marketing" to inform consumers that Lincoln is back.
Interesting idea....I wonder if other once-powerful brands in North America could take a tactic like this?
Comments
I think FoMoCo is facing two separate issues with regard to the Lincoln marque. You've mentioned the brand identity has been allowed to languish, but in addition, the product identity has also allowed to languish. The products need to reflect the brand image that is being crafted.
I think in order to succeed as a separate brand within the larger corporation, they should stop releasing Lincoln versions of Ford product (right now I think it is only happening with SUVs, unless one counts Mercury as part of the Lincoln question, as I think Lincoln and Mercury are the sales channel), and rely on Lincoln specific models (or else make the changes so extreme one doesn't feel their car is a re-badged Ford, as is commonly done. If they are going to rebadge, then look to the luxury brand partners such as Jaguar (which may be for sale) or Volvo for platforms to build off of.
Patrick
Posted by: Patrick Perez | January 21, 2008 04:44 PM