Ford Turns to Tablets to Grow Consumer Loyalty

When you buy a gift card at Starbucks you have the option to place the card directly on your Smart Phone. When you order a pizza online you can track the Pizza’s progress from the oven to your driveway.  If you were speaking to Ford’s Vice President of North American Sales Ken Czubay he would tell you Ford is behind on the technology front and they know it.

Czubay, whose LinkedIn profile states he is Ford’s “Sales Guy,” is counting on Apple iPads to increase customer engagement. He spoke recently in front of a packed house at Wesley Chapel’s Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel during Ford’s regional Southeast business meeting. The tablets will be launched in both Sales and Service with a variety of applications targeted at giving customers a greater and more efficient experience. In Service applications will quickly pull up a customers vehicle history and offer an efficient RO build.

Ford began using tablets and their new “Showcase” application recently through a Dealership opt-in program. The application is an extension of Ford.com allowing vehicles to browse inventory and customize the Ford order of their dreams.

Czubay admits that despite Ford’s recent strides they need to become more of a car company being that the opportunity with their best selling F-150 truck is limited. While Ford’s Mike Rowe-lead commercials are favorably received customer loyalty is flat on both of the arena: sales and service. Whether or not tablets become a part of the successful culture of Ford remains to be seen but will in a large part come down to execution. Ford admits that until they find a differentiated customer strategy at the dealership level they will still be haunted by third-party Internet providers like TrueCar that offer and deliver a unique customer experience.

GM's Facebook Ad Pull Now a Part of Marketing Reorganization?

Just hours ago General Motors announced they would not be buying TV advertising space in this years Super Bowl. So the bottom line is this - GM is going through a top to bottom marketing reorganization. It is now obvious that their decision to pull $10 Million in Facebook advertising was not an isolated decision. So now I ask you? Doesn't GM look a little opportunistic in the way they released the Facebook news days before we learned (as Paul Harvey would have said) "the rest of the story?"

Does this news worry you about the future and vision of General Motors? Does it weaken their argument that Facebook advertising is ineffective? Kind of seems like General Motors may not be the best person to ask.

Interesting.

GM Stops Advertising on Facebook / Ford Reacts Quickly (Exclusive)

The timing of the announcement certainly is curious to some but today General Motors (GM) announced that they would be pulling their paid advertising from Facebook. For the full article please check out the Wall Street Journal Online today.

The news cannot be welcome news to the Menlo Park Social Media Company. Many Facebook leaders including Mark Zuckerberg have been on the road building interest in Facebook's IPO. It's still too early to see how news of losing GM's $10 Million dollar annual ad spend will effect Facebook's initial offering but yesterday's news had the initial stock price upwards to $38 dollars a share -- much higher than the initial $28 dollars to $35 dollars per share expected. 

Now Morgan Auto Group has a GM franchise. In fact I used to run that dealership specifically. I am reluctant to comment specifically on what GM is thinking in pulling from Facebook but I will say that I do feel that there is some great value in what Facebook offers as an "Identity Platform." 

Ford Motor Company has shown some real leadership in Social and has some strong "Faces" behind some first class social efforts. One of those faces is former Toyota Exec James Farley who is now Ford's Chief Marketing exec. Another and a personal favorite of mine is Scott Monty who I was able to meet earlier this year. So instantly upon hearing the news from GM today I (and many others) took to Twitter to get Ford's take from Scott Monty. 

From: @brettamorgan To: @ScottMonty 

Scott any read on what GM is hoping to accomplish by both pulling from Facebook and timing of announcement? 

From: @ScottMonty To: @brettamorgan

Our focus is on Ford and our continuing relationship with Facebook. It's all down to execution. 

Scott continued in other replies to various Twitter Questions: 

"We've seen FB ads as effective when strategically combined with engagement & innovation, not as a straight media buy." 

In one especially pointed response Monty responded to a Tweet stating "Bad news for Facebook" with "Or a play for attention." 

While I have no crystal ball to tell you whether or not Facebook's stock offering will sink or swim I will say this. Because of guys like Farley and Monty, Ford Motor Company will be on the cutting edge and continue to create distance between themselves and other manufacturers. They will do this by engaging in this new age, not by turning their backs. 

Brett Morgan is the Variable Operations Manager for Morgan Auto Group which owns and operates 11 franchises in the state of Florida. (Tampa, FL)