Brandweek: When you came to Ford on your first day last fall, what was your biggest challenge as a marketer?

Jim Farley: It was perception. Every dealer was telling me he had the best products that Ford had made in years. I just came from Toyota, and I said 'yeah, right.' But I got into some of these, the Fusion, the Edge, and I was completely surprised. They were right, this was some really good product. Why didn't anyone know about these? Here Toyota and Honda had these great CUVs, but Ford had the Edge, which is better than those.

BW: Was this lack of awareness a function of marketing?

JF: Not really. Look at the Edge now. It's reached sales of 130,000. They were driven by the product which is what is shaping this new effort, "Drive one." It's the only credible way to market now. You can go out and talk about new products over and over, but they have to actually be good products to start. And having someone you know, someone you trust, tell you that it is a good product.

BW: Who comes to mind when it comes to the idea of just putting the brand out there and letting people talk about it ?

JF: Toyota is one; simple advertising, people have good awareness of its quality. Nike has plenty of mojo without relying on fancy ads. Nike leverages relationships with athletes to get its brand out there, and people already know its products. Nordstrom doesn't do crazy advertising. Southwest Airlines is a great brand, aside from its recent troubles; it has great product advocacy. And that's what Ford is doing now.



BW: At the auto show in Detroit last year, Ford was running challenge ads where the Ford Fusion was compared to Toyota.

JF: And I said, 'Thanks for the free ad.'

BW: Exactly. Are you going to stop that practice now at Ford?

JF: Good quality is good quality, and if it helps the brand, I think it can work. We've been fortunate at Ford in that the quality perception is very high in places where the trucks sell so well, in places like Texas and the Midwest. Sometimes you might need a push in other places and we use that. In the new campaign, we mention that Ford is rated equal in quality to Toyota. It helps Toyota, but it also reinforces what Ford is. What I wouldn't do is something like Saturn, where it actually brought other brands [Toyota and Honda] into the showroom to ask consumers to compare. As a marketer, you have to know the influence of discovery.