Challenge: Create lasting gains in brand and businesss health by capitlaizing on Ford's perceptual momentum.
 

Insight: With trust in automakers at an all time low, there was growing appetite to hear a turnaround story.

 

Approach: Introduce a new dialogue of transparency that represented Ford's durable change in the company and its product. 
 

Results: Brand consideration showed a +41% lift as purchase intent doubled (+108%), generating a +3ppt lift in retail share. Winner 2009 Cassie awards. 

Against the backdrop of a post-recession recovery, the Detroit bailouts, and raft of new product accolades Ford of Canada invested in a campaign that would help initiate its status as Canada’s top selling automotive brand. Ford had but a brief window to distance itself from mismanaged domestic manufacturers, along with ascendant, rationally-minded import brands that were suddenly experiencing quality issues of their own. This was Ford's time to strike.

My role in planning was to identify the component of the market that would be most receptive to Ford's innovation message, then isolate which key attributes were required to generate opinion and consideration. This, married to an executional style that showcased Ford converts in a natural but direct dialogue, helped galvanize a product-led transformation of a brand that was now worth cheering for. 

Results: Ford was appearing on shopping lists in markets that had traditionally remained untapped. A 3 ppt. increase in share of market by the end of the campaign was enabled by a unified strength in brand health: consideration grew by 41% lift, while purchase intent more than doubled (+108%). This was supported by lift in the attributes of Trusted Name (+18%), Proud to Own (39%) and Quality (+58%). Five years later Ford remains the manufacturer with the highest awareness and share of industry.