Tag Archives: ford

Aussie car manufacturing – time to get a Brazilian!

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Call me a wanker, but I drive an Audi TT.

But, since Wilson Everard advertises the FPV range of locally-cobbled hot rods, and the Audi was leaking something oily and nasty, I grabbed a loaner GT E from our client last weekend.

I loved it – the power of the supercharged five-litre V8 was way beyond anything I’d previously driven. The wife and kids loved it – far more room than the overpriced US-built Merc 4WD that is their daily driver. And the noise that supercharged V8 makes when you back off the throttle – pop, bang, boom – I’m no Boy Racer but it certainly gets your attention.

For me the stumbling block is not the car but the badge.

After years of aspiring to sexy Euro-metal can I actually drive a local?

And even though FPV GTs are going so well there’s a wait list, the rest of the local industry isn’t going so well if you read the daily drivel. Ford, GM and Toyota are hanging on by their fingernails, but can we live without local manufacturing?

Will Australia be just a quarry with great weather and nice beaches?

Bugger that!

Given that manufacturing in Australia employs four times as many people than the mining industry, I don’t think we can.

The Government’s New Car Plan announced in 2008 resulted in investment of upwards of $2 billion in its first two years, but thanks to the Queensland floods and the strength of the dollar it’s come to a screaming halt.

We need to do something to protect our car manufacturing capacity. But what?

It’s not so hard, just look at what Brazil is doing.

Like us, the Brazilians have a strong commodities export business that has driven its currency, the real, through the roof.

Their government already has a 35% tariff on imported cars (ours is a pathetic 3.5%), and they’ve decided to whack an Industrial Products Tariff on top, ranging from 25 to 35% depending on the real’s exchange rate.

Wow – try buying a new Audi TT in Rio – oh mi oh mioh!

But the fact is they are protecting their manufacturing base during what may be an extended period of cheap imports.

Brazilians won’t be doing the samba down to the BMW, Merc or Audi dealerships but they will still have jobs and income and their country will have a manufacturing base, lower welfare and less social dislocation.

And stop whining about giving the auto industry assistance. If we don’t, can you imagine what we’re going to do with almost 70,000 highly-skilled people looking for new jobs while on the dole and paying no tax?

This is what assistance to the car industry means.

Let’s get cracking with a tariff right now.

And let’s lead the way with how Government departments – federal, state and local – choose their cars. Let’s be like the French. If you’re not driving a Citröen, Renault or Peugeot, you’re not working for the French Government.

Three choices: made here, made here or made here.

And you can shove hybrids up your exhaust pipe – they produce more carbon to make than they could save if they lasted a thousand years and they won’t!

Jeez, I feel better now that’s all off my chest.

How will I look in the FPV GT E?

Like a bloody patriot mate!

 

Toyota retains best ‘green’ brand crown, Aus brands absent

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Toyota, Johnson & Johnson and Honda are the greenest brands in the world, according to Interbrand’s ‘Best Global Green Brands 2012’ report, while no Australian brands rated among the top 50 for green credentials.

The report, which uses consumer research and environmental practice performance data provided by Deloitte to arrive at its conclusions, found that most industries around the world are taking steps to sustainability and their degree of external reporting, with automotive and technology brands leading the pack.

Global CEO of Interbrand, Jez Frampton says sustainability is now proving to be a strategic and profitable aspect of business and a brand-strengthening asset. “It is crucial that consumers’ impressions of a brand are in close alignment with that brand’s actual environmental performance. Otherwise, a brand’s efforts in this area could serve as an under-utilised asset, or, conversely, suffer due to accusations of ‘greenwashing.’”

Toyota maintains the number one spot in the rankings this year. The manufacturer’s original Prius model, the primary launch pad for Toyota’s green image, has recently been expanded to encompass an entire family of sustainable automobiles, including the company’s first plug‐in model.

Seven other automotive brands appear in this year’s top 50, with three more ranking in the top 10 – Honda, in third spot, Volkswagen in fourth and BMW in tenth. Ford (15th), Mercedes‐Benz (16th), Hyundai (17th), and Nissan (21th) also performed well. Investment in developing and marketing fuel-efficient and alternative fuel vehicles appears to be paying off for the auto sector, which made gains both in terms of performance and consumer perceptions for their green practices.

Leading technology brands are also spearheading efforts to reduce their environmental impact. Panasonic jumped four spots this year to sixth position on the back of a range of energy management systems, including the conversion of a former factory site in Fujisawa near Tokyo into a ‘Sustainable Smart Town’.

green brands

The top risers on this year’s list included Danone, Ford, Starbucks, and UPS. FMCG brand Danone, ranked ninth, improved its green credentials by committing to reducing its carbon footprint by 30% by the end of 2012. Ford, in 15th spot, made significant improvement in its environmental performance around both its operations, as well as its approach to transparent engagement and disclosure on its activities and its environmental impact. Starbucks (36th) and UPS (43rd) improved their overall ranking the most in this year’s report, both moving up six spots from where they ranked in 2011.

The United States, Germany and Japan emerged as the homes of the most green brands.  This year’s list included 22 brands manufactured and managed in the United States, including Johnson & Johnson (2nd), Hewlett‐Packard (5th), Dell (7th), Cisco (11th), and 3M (12th). Japan and Germany each produced seven of the top 50, thanks to their technology and automotive success.

 

Australia’s love affair with Qantas continues

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Love may not have been a word used to describe feelings towards Qantas at the end of last year, but the union squabble and consequent grounding of the airline appear to have done nothing to quell Australia’s love affair with the brand.

A study conducted by Square Holes research places Qantas as the fourth ‘most loved’ brand in Australia, up two places since 2010. However, while it remains one of the most loved brands, rival airline Virgin is closing the gap, having broken into the top 10 for the first time to place ninth on the list.

The study, which used focus groups, an online survey of 1,000 Australians and ethnography approaches to arrive at its conclusions, names Apple as the nation’s most loved brand. Cadbury rose up the rankings steeply to come in at second place, while Holden held steady in third spot.

The online survey, which determines the brand ranking by asking participants to nominate their favourite brands without prompting, may be susceptible to sudden changes if certain brands have engaged in particularly memorable or large ad campaigns, making them top of mind during the survey process.

Also in the top 10 of Square Holes’ ‘Make Love Not War’ ranking was Toyota at number five, Sony, which dropped from first place to sixth, Ford at number seven, Samsung at number eight and Coca-Cola at number 10.

Telstra and Optus which appeared in the top ten previously are no longer on the list.

Square Holes Managing Director Jason Dunstone says the most loved brands in Australia share two common traits – authenticity and relevance. “The research found brands with these traits sit most comfortably within the context of Australians’ busy lives and passions,” Dunstone says.

“It’s interesting to note that each of the top ten brands were perceived to have better products than their competitors but their communication, service and advertising are viewed as being the same standard.”

Australians are driven by connection with the people in their lives and new experiences, the research found, leaving less room for aspirational brands. “The top brands are seen by Australians to be supporting them along this path and are brands whose products they use regularly and form part of their daily lives,” Dunstone adds. “No aspirational brands like Aston Martin or Rolex made the list – perhaps a sign of the times.”

The research also found that Australians are most likely to engage with loved brands through their website, closely followed by Facebook. Most people would not engage through Twitter or an app.

However, when it comes to purchasing they move offline and still prefer the personal experience of buying products from the top brands in store, with four in five (78%) expressing this preference  despite growing levels of online shopping.

 

Cokes ad hottest at Winter Olympics

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Ipsos has awarded Coca-Cola, Birds Eye and AAMI gold, silver and bronze medals respectively for their advertising during the broadcast of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

The study reviewed the performance of 40 different TVCs over the course of the broadcast. The research measured awareness, recognition, branding and impact on consumers with regard to relevance and persuasion.

Interestingly, Ipsos reports that none of the top 10 ads from the Winter Olympics were Olympic themed, juxtaposed with the Beijing games where two of the top three TVCs were. Of the 40 ads tested from the Winter games, only two were Olympic themed.

“During the 2008 Beijing Games Coca-Cola aired a specifically themed ad ‘Bird’s Nest’ which only ranked 43 out of 60,” said Ipsos ASI executive director Peter Fairbrother. “However, the company took a different stance this time by showing its feel good ‘Summer’ ad. This ad is superbly branded and goes to show that Olympic sponsorship and Olympic themed creative is not a sure fire way to guarantee advertising success.”

Ipsos report a standout comparison between Summer and Winter Olympic advertising being the respective computer sponsors, Lenovo and Acer. Lenovo ranked second during the Beijing games, while Acer only made number 28. Ipsos indicate this was due to Lenovo’s stronger integration of product and message. Acer’s brand linkage was “deemed below average and there was also brand confusion.”

Top 10 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics TVCs

  1. Summer for Coke
  2. Birds 45 Sec for Birds Eye
  3. AAMI Safe Driver for AAMI
  4. Chanting Big Mac for McDonalds
  5. Ford Territory for Ford
  6. Meadow Lea Small Things for Goodman Fielder
  7. John West Salmon for John West/Simplot
  8. Panadol Optisorb for GlaxoSmithKline
  9. Cricket for Kirks
  10. White Water Rafting for Bundaberg Beer

Ford encourages tweets while driving

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Ford Motor Co. has plans for new wireless dashboard technology to include Twitter feeds.

Ford announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the app will be part of its Sync platform. Drivers will use voice commands to hear tweet read aloud and controls on the steering wheel will allow skipping forward or backward.

Alan Mulally, Ford CEO, said he believed the Sync controls, such as voice command, would make in-car entertainment and communications apps safer and less distracting than using mobile.

The move comes on the back of Ford’s succesful ‘Fiesta Movement’ campaign. The campaign saw 100 ‘social agents’ were loaned a Ford Fiesta and blogged about their experiences. This racked up impressive statistics for Ford:

  • 4.3 million YouTube views

  • 3 million+ tweets
  • More than 500,000 Flickr views, and

  • 50,000 interested potential customers, of which 97% didnt already own a Ford.

Social media jobs (and how to get them)

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So you want a job working in social media huh? Living the dream. Playing on Facebook all day and getting paid to do it, tweeting for fun and profit, working from your laptop in exotic locations around the world while you give inspiring speeches at marketing conventions and advise multinational corporations on influencer strategy. Maybe you’re a closet YouTube sensation waiting to happen. Maybe one day your number of Twitter followers will be greater than the number of people you’ve actually met. Maybe one day you’ll find the digerati holy grail and one of your ideas will go… viral.

If you’ve got social media career aspirations, here’s where you could end up, and more importantly, how to get there.

Director of online interactive relationshipmentarianism at a multinational corporation

Job Description: This is it. The biggest, bestest, buzz job in town. Pepsi has one, Coke has one, Ford has one. The CEO and CMO love you because your very existence makes them look cool and you oversee a crack team of minions made up of handfuls of the people on the list below. You spend your days counting your Twitter followers and quoting passages from The Cluetrain Manifesto, which you read and/or wrote 10 years ago before social media was even invented.

How to get this job: Work in marketing for a decade and write a blog that begs attention and belief. Schmooze, arse-kiss, network, know the CEO and be in the right place at the right time. Master the Powerpoint ‘wow factor’ to help you justify social media ROI in your slides. A postgraduate degree from an Ivy League college, a famous white paper and well-connected parents certainly won’t hurt your chances either.

Freelance social media consultant who is a New York Times Best Seller

Job description: These are rock stars of the social media world. Luminaries include Gary Vaynerchuk, Chris Brogan, Guy Kawasaki, and of course, Seth ‘God’ Godin. You won’t get out of bed for less than $10,000 and you won’t appear via webcam at a marketing conference for less than $100K. You get mobbed by random social media strategists on the street and people make t-shirts with your name on them. You have more than a million Twitter followers and you run two separate Facebook accounts, one for the thousands of fans and one for both of your actual real-life friends. (Real-life, not second life; they’re different).

How to get this job: Work at a successful dot com company and write an original self-help business book about the experience. You only need one good one, then you can re-work your ideas for the next 20 and just change the cover artwork.

Freelance social media consultant who is not a New York Times Best Seller but has read the New York Times a couple of times, but only the online version, and only to admire the Apple ads

Job Description: You’ve got a blog and you’re not afraid to use it! Everyone, like EVERYONE, like every, like blogger in your city knows who you are and you know heaps about social media and you’ve got lots of opinions and stuff. You’re listed on all the top lists of top bloggers and tweeters and you did some work once with an actual company and you helped them understand that the old ways were gone and different and social media is the new way!

How to get this job: Figure out how to install WordPress.

Social media manager

Job Description: Like a director of online interactive telationshipmentarianism at a multinational corporation, you’re at the pointy end of the career path, but you’re probably a bit younger, the company you work for is slightly smaller and your office, if you have one of your own, doesn’t have a view. Still, you were high school captain, you’re getting paid $90K a year, you’re at a company everyone has heard of and you’re probably kicking some goals and getting some credit for changing the way things are done. You were most likely a marketing manager in the UK in a former life until you were fired for spending too much time on Facebook. You cover this up by telling people it was the GFC (Global Financial Crisis, and/or Geelong Football Club, pick one) that forced you back to Sydney or Melbourne and everyone nods empathetically.

How to get this job: Get a job in marketing in an ASX200 company. Shine. Be the one who knows everything there is to know about social media. Convince the powers that be that that position should be created. Wait for the position to be created. Bang.

Marketing manager who loves social media

Job Description: You saw the writing on the wall years ago when traditional advertising didn’t really seem to be doing anything, nothing you could prove anyway, and you knew this whole social media thing could be an answer. You read Seth Godin every morning with your skinny-latte, you go to every seminar you can find on using Twitter for business and you’ve been blogging since 2008. Most of your day is taken up with charts and meetings and that boring stuff, but you dedicate quite a few hours to the company Facebook page and you wet your pants when you saw this presentation on convincing your boss that social media ROI is about more than tracking impressions.

How to get this job: Graduate top of your class at uni. Score the best internships. Start out as a marketing coordinator, blog a lot. Wait for the marketing manager to get fired or move to London (or hack their Facebook account). Step up a rung. Convince the boss that social media will work. Write blog posts for him. Tweet a lot.

Social media strategist

Job Description: You come up with social media strategies for clients of the agency you work in. Deep down you know they don’t really make any money for the client, but you suspect that one day they might and that helps you sleep at night. If anyone asks any tricky questions you just mumble something about communities and multiply the number of followers your second cousin’s Twitter followers have to create impressive looking reach diagrams.

How to get this job: Be particularly smart, savvy and hassle the right people. Keep a case study on hand at all times and spend at least five hours a day socially networking.

Community manager

Seek.com.au Job Description: “Exciting new company seeks motive web guru to manage our fantasmic online community of incredibly interesting people who do wonderfully fantastic things. Marketing nous essential and copywriting skills a bonus. You know who you are!”

Actual Job Description: “Company built on venture capital with virtually no chance of actual profitability this side of 2060 seeks redundant marketing/advertising/sales/IT person desperate enough to work for share options and cold Moccona. Tasks include spam management, writing articles that match our list of SEO keywords, getting coffee for the ‘CEO’ before he plays golf (there’s only four employees in the company but he still chooses CEO as his job title of course), selling ads, cleaning, phone-answering and spam management.

Social media intern

Job description: Advising older people on Twitter and MSN lingo. Checking Facebook. Updating Facebook stati. Attending meetings. LOL’ing. Day dreaming. ROFL’ing. Explaining what is and is not cool with the youth market. Blogging. Checking Facebook. Exploring cheap lunch options nearby. Writing a uni assignment on how social media is, like, heaps good. Defending Generation Y’s work ethic by simultaneously arguing about it and changing your Facebook status.

How to get this job: Have some sort of documentation that shows you attend a university every now and then. Point out that the fail you got in marketing strategy doesn’t count because you have a blog. Repeatedly ask nicely until someone caves in.

Social media work experience student

Job Description: Lurk. Smile hopefully and nonchalantly whenever someone comes near you. Practice your ‘I’m so, like, really busy over here’ face while you read B&T and wonder what all the big words mean and what the B and the T mean. Lurk some more. Dream about boys. Update the company Twitter page.

How to get this job: Make sure your dad knows/is someone.

Moments with marketers: Janina Geraghty

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Marketingmag.com.au chats to Janina Geraghty – marketing and web coordinator at the Paul Wakeling Motor Group. If you
would
like to see a certain
marketer profiled, please email your suggestion to Kate Kendall, online
editor, on kate.kendall@niche.com.au.

1. What do you do?

I’m the marketing and web coordinator at the Paul Wakeling Motor Group. The Group incorporates three locations, 12 new and four used car dealerships and three service and parts centres. I report directly to the managing director and my job description includes coordinating advertising, organising events, website maintenance, social media marketing, creating newsletters, direct mail, promotional material, CRM and the list goes on and on.

2. What was your first job?

As soon as I was old enough, I got a part-time job as a ‘check-out chick’ at the local Kmart. My sister got a job at Cut-Price Deli next door and I remember her being furious as she watched me fall asleep at my register while she slaved away slicing, wrapping and cleaning for almost half my wage.

When I left school I hit the big city and got a clerical job at an insurance company. I worked in the insurance industry for most of my career between having babies.

3. What did you study?

I completed my Associateship of the Australian Insurance Institute while I was expecting my first child, did a couple of short courses at TAFE, but it has only been recently that I have become seriously interested in further education. I started a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) degree at UNE last year, studying part-time by distance education. It’s not easy getting back into study, but I’m not putting any unnecessary pressure on myself.

Although I’m enjoying formal study and see the value in it – I’d have to say I’ve learnt a lot looking over people’s shoulders, reading, asking lots of stupid questions and making mistakes.

4. Describe a typical day?

My day starts about half an hour after my alarm has gone off, then its full steam ahead. I get myself and my four school-aged kids ready, stop them from killing each other in the car and deliver them to school (roughly) on time.

After checking the backseat to make sure I haven’t forgotten anyone, I proceed to work.

Once in my office, I check my emails, news, analytics and manufacturer programs over a coffee before tackling whatever the day and inbox brings. A lot of my time is spent online maintaining our sites and accounts on social networks as well as liaising with our advertising agency. There’s always something on the go, whether it be the opening of a new showroom, launch of a new car or our Wakeling’s Women on Wheels program that keeps me occupied.

After work, I go home to dinner my husband has cooked (I don’t like cooking!). We still manage to eat dinner together at the table with no TV as it’s probably the only time we are all together. Following dinner the evenings can vary from watching TV, playing Wii with the kids, studying or hanging out in the kitchen with my husband as well as some housework and preparing for the next day. Naturally I’ll be tweeting in between and usually right up till I go to sleep thanks to my beloved iPhone.

5. What is on the agenda for the next year?

Personally, as well as my studies, I want to write more. I have been doing car reviews for Autochic.com.au, which I have enjoyed immensely and am about to start my own blog.

Professionally I am excited about managing the redevelopment of the group website as well as a few other upcoming projects. Despite the economic climate and negativity in the media, this really is an exciting time for the auto industry.

6. What brand do you love the most? Dislike the most? Why?

Working in a dealership you work with a lot of wonderful big car brands. My favourite brand is Holden. I admire that the brand has entrenched itself in the Australian way of life. Just as you can identify yourself as either a Vegemite or peanut-butter household, regardless of what brand car you own, you are either a Holden or Ford person. The loyalty to the brand here has not wavered despite the troubles of its parent company General Motors in the US and the slowing economy.

The brand I can’t stand at the moment is the Advanced Medical Institute (AMI) and their nasal spray technology. If it weren’t for their tacky prime-time radio ads, I wouldn’t have my six-year-old asking me to explain premature ejaculation!

7. What do you believe has been the most significant moment in the history of marketing?

I believe the current GFC is changing marketing forever. As budgets tighten around the world, no sector is feeling it like marketing and advertising and it has been a huge wake up call to those agencies that have been banking on the co-dependence of business to traditional media. The sudden rush to social media as the cheap alternative to reach customers online has forced companies to re-evaluate strategies and the way they communicate with their audience. They have to start engaging and listening again. The GFC is a cleansing for the industry and reminder of what comes first, the customer.

8. Where can people find you?