Ford CEO Jim Farley raised eyebrows this week when he appeared to indicate the automaker would not continue to invest in major marketing campaigns for its electric vehicles – a decision that sits in stark contrast to rival automakers like General Motors.
“We spend $500 to $600 per vehicle on public advertising. Get rid of all of it,” Farley said at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference this week, as quoted by marketing publication AdAge. “If you ever see Ford Motor Co. doing a Super Bowl ad on our electric vehicles, sell the stock.”
GM, for its part, ran Super Bowl ads promoting its upcoming lineup of EVs in both 2021 and 2022 and is also spending big to promote its Chevy Bolt EV and Bolt EUV compact cars this year. Farley believes Ford does not need to follow in GM’s footsteps due to the quality of its electric production, which includes offerings like the Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning and E-Transit, as demand for these vehicles currently outstrips supply.
“We haven’t needed [marketing] for Lightning,” Farley said. “Mustang Mach-E we advertised [but] we took the ads out because we’ve been sold out for two years.”
AdAge spoke to GM Global Chief Marketing Officer Deborah Wahl about Farley’s comments, who said the Super Bowl is still “the largest audience that you can get in one place,” and that marketing for EVs can help answer customer questions they may have about these vehicles and ensure they are aware of specific features they may have.
“We think to ignore or bypass communication with consumers during a period of massive opportunity, well, that just doesn’t make sense to me,” Wahl said of the ongoing shift to EVs and the sales opportunity it presents for automakers.
Screenshot from GM Super Bowl ad promoting the Silverado EV
Farley said Ford spends $500 to $600 on advertising per vehicle, but plans to cut most of this out in the near future as demand for new vehicles massively outstrips supply. He said the company should instead focus this money on customer aftersales and retaining existing customers, including additional free servicing, detailing and maintenance.
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Comments
waste of money
INTERNET it has Ad Blocks, Scroll down, never saw an Ad at Facebook or Linkedin
TV Remote Control to put fwd and skip Ads, never remember one
MAGAZINES Just turn the page rapidly
JOURNAL nobody buys it anymore in paper
RADIO it is just for music, it has CDs, Youtube music without Ad and so on, MP3 & 4
WALLS nobody reads
BUSES nobody reads or is worry about
AIRCRAFT LIVERY all criticise how ugly the paint is
etc.
even car companies do, we wont buy just because a disturbing Ad irritates more & more
stop paying for celebrity endorsements. they have no credibility.
These are products that will not sell themselves. Advertising in a number of ways will be key.
Moto of most successful people.
Early to bed. Early to rise
Work real hard and Advertise.
Any Questions?
Well, all the armchair CEOs complain endlessly that GM doesn’t advertise any models so this should be exactly what they’ve been wanting to see.
It will be a huge success.
You advertise a new and CURRENTLY available product.
Not something that is coming in 3 years.
Exactly what product is GM advertising that is 3 years out from production.
Seems you’re mathematically challenged along with wishing the global economy would collapse.
From the same company that never once did an add for a Comaro on TV.
I want to know when they’re going to ship the Debut Edition. They started building in March, why is it taking so long. I can’t get any info on my delivery date when I call them.
GM advertised Lyriq years before orders were taken. Why? IMHO GM had nothing else to offer. Other than Escalade, all other GM vehicles could not compete so why bother advertising them.
GM advertised Lyriq years before orders were taken. Why? IMHO GM had nothing else to offer. Other than Escalade, all other GM vehicles could not compete so why bother advertising them. EVs great local driving, but try to plan a trip like LA to Phoenix, something people do. With an EV, how long extra will it take. Chargers not always readily available.
Advertising will not be needed when public sentiment is overwhelmingly educated about and in favor of EV’s. I look at advertising as a way to educate the uninformed. As I see it, right now, the only people that have knowledge of EV offerings/capabilities are those enamored with the concept, and that’s not the majority of buyers.
I agree with Gerry Pepper in that current infrastructure does not realistically support moderately long distance travel.
The industry has a long way to go to gain broad support.
Car and Truck adds should include the entire product line over a period of time showing different features. Dwelling on one model gets boring and irritating as in Cadillac’s Lyriq adds.
Just build great vehicles with top quality, reliability and dependability. Word of mouth is the best advertising. How many Tesla ads do you see? Not perfect vehicles but huge word of mouth exposure. Corvette, same story.
The questions are, can gm build EVs with better quality than their current vehicles? Can they get improved market share with EVs?
I don’t know but I am not buying any gm stock.
Farley is right. Why spend advertising dollars when demand far out weighs what can be produced. I just don’t get GM. Advertising products that are years away from being available? Maybe spend that money on battery tech so you don’t have to do another recall of every single EV made. I keep hearing GM is going to take over the EV world while I see other car manufactures actually bringing product to market today. What the heck is going on in Detroit?
GM, WHY ARE YOU ADVERTIZING EVs WHEN YOU HAVE NO EVs TO SELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OUT OF STOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!