A Noble Destination

Recent media reports focus on a Ford commercial that features an actual F-150 buyer providing their real answers to a staged "press conference" in a documentary-style spot. In it, the buyer, identified as Chris, states:

"I wasn't going to buy another car that was bailed out by our government. I was going to buy from a manufacturer that's standing on their own: win, lose, or draw."

That statement is seen as some as picking on GM and Chrysler, the two domestic manufacturers who did, in fact, take out enormous federal loans as part of an industry bailout. Both companies entered bankruptcy, anyway, in order to restructure and manage their crippling debt and labor agreements. Members of Congress are now investigating whether or not the White House may have put pressure on Ford to pull the spot. (Reuters covers it here.)

Regardless of whether or not anyone exerted pressure to pull the ad, it reflects a sentiment seen often in the research we've done in my "day job" (read that ironically, because it's been a full-time gig for a couple years now). Both shoppers and buyers have used language similar to Chris' ever since the bailouts took place. It's an active and honest factor in determining brand consideration for some automotive customers. Ford has been, and continues be, seen as what we call a "noble destination" in light of the bailouts. The reasoning behind it is simple: being the one company that weathered the storm on its own suggests that Ford is the manufacturer more likely to continue to be around through future difficult times. The ability to see trouble coming and adjust course to survive it, and even thrive as Ford has in recent years, represents additional emotional security for people making such a large purchase. This is true in any automotive segment, of course, though it is not a stretch to assume that it can be significant a factor when shopping for a full-size pickup truck you need to last for years, backed by a company that you feel will endure.

So, to the larger Industry and to the current administration I am compelled to offer the following: pulling this spot only draws greater attention to what buyers have been saying for the past few years, anyway. It's pointless to pretend that sentiment does not exist or somehow is not a factor in the decision-making process.

The actual Ford spot is below: