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Ford Motor Co., which is ending its PGA Tour and Senior Players Championship event
title sponsorships, has been “ramping up” its association with the Professional
Bull Riders (PBR), according to Sarah Webster of the DETROIT FREE PRESS. Ford
became title sponsor of the 30-city Built Ford Tough Series tour, and the company
is also “buying an interest in cattle for its new Battle of the Bull contest,
an online fan sweepstakes that gives the winner a stake” in Super Duty, a bull
partially owned by Ford. As part of its Way Forward turnaround plan, which “aims
to make Ford Motor profitable again in North America” by ’08, the company is “sharpening
Ford’s bold appeal.” Martin Collins, Exec Dir of Marketing for the Ford, Lincoln
and Mercury brands, indicated that Ford “isn’t changing its marketing direction
so much as it is refocusing on its true identity, which he said stands for ‘strength
and progress.’” Collins: “This was an approach we took as part of the Way Forward
plan, as we did a deeper dive to better understand the Ford brand and what it
stood for.” CNW Marketing Research President Art Spinella said that golf “was
never a suitable venue for the Ford brand, which is dominated by sales of pickups.”
Spinella: “On one hand, you’re trying to be Arnold Palmer, and on the other, you’re
trying to be a cowboy” (
DETROIT
FREE PRESS, 3/13).
