How could Ford Change their MKT Communication?

 As this is an assignment from my Intro Marcom course, I will keep on going post a paragraph or two here in response to Nice Gloria.
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I’m definitely new to this area. And since this is a huge topic to talk about, I decided to narrow it down and did a little bit research online about recent Ford Ad campaign–Swap Your Ride. According to NY Times, the commercials featured a bunch of selected real people comment on their feeling after test-driving these new Ford cars. This approach is pretty familiar with audiences since a lot of other campaigns had also used the same strategy to convince customers; however, this is just part of the campaign.These customers’ feedback was directly collected from a month-long try-out and all theses TV, print, and digital propaganda would be back supported by a trade-in bonus up to 1000 bucks. How is that? Sounds enticing?

Maybe critism follows. Since NY Times used the term “Purchase consideration”which was doubled but not ” real purchasing record” , consumers would doubt whether it really worth to swap their old car. Not to say, their current one may works fine enough that it hurts their feeling to get rid of it. What I might recommend is that Ford should make comparison with their competitors to let consumers know which counts most. This approach had demonstrated its effectiveness in sites like Bizrate.com. Say if Jim wants to purchase a printer and he found out that Canon and HP printers share the similar rank performances then the price will be the key decider. While if Ford satisfies target customers’ needs compared to other auto brands, then they will undoubtedly rush in to get the best deal.

Back to those testimonies, the important thing is how to convince audiences that these are true enough, never edited statements directly from test drivers. Then, it’s not about ads on media, it’s about word-of-mouth marketing especially online. Had Ford established any online information monitoring devices to better interact with consumers? A flowing online information channel could transform Ford campaign’s feedback circle into a selling point. Had Ford kept going with those test-drivers who did later on bought a Ford? It might be that appropriate repetition of different versions of testimonies will help build up credibility in consumers’ mind.