June 08, 2007
Rollin' out the new Taurus
New ads tout America's 'safest full-size car'
Scott Burgess / The Detroit News
Ford Motor Co. will tout its new Taurus as the "safest full-size car in America" with a new advertising campaign that debuts Monday.
The nationwide promotion, part of the automaker's big push to re-establish the once-valuable Taurus nameplate, will use online, television, radio and print ads to target young families and the millions of previous Taurus owners, said Cisco Codina, Ford's group vice president, North America marketing, sales and service.
"We have a complete marketing strategy in place with everything from billboards to direct mailing," Codina said Thursday.
The new Taurus, which is replacing the Ford Five Hundred during the middle of that car's first production cycle, will start rolling into dealerships this summer. The advertising campaign will launch in stages, first in print and on television on Monday, and then within 10 days to online and radio.
People should expect a sophisticated touch to the campaign, said Barry Engle, general manager of the car company's marketing division. "The same guy who shoots Rolex ads shot the Taurus for our print ads," he said. "They look fantastic."
The ads won't mention that this is the rebirth of Taurus. Ford ended production of the legendary nameplate in October when it shuttered the Atlanta assembly plant. In February, under the leadership of new CEO Alan Mulally, the automaker announced it was resurrecting the name, as well as renaming the Ford Freestyle crossover the Taurus X and the Mercury Montego, the Five Hundred's sister car, the Mercury Sable.
Brand has name recognition
Bringing back the Taurus name was smart, said Tom Libby, an industry analyst with the Power Information Network, an affiliate of J.D. Power and Associates.
"I applaud the move," he said. "To kill the Taurus name was to strand 20 years of customers. It's difficult, and they would spend quite a bit of money, to establish a new name."
Codina said Ford recognizes the value of the Taurus name and agrees it was foolish to let it go. In recent studies, about 40 percent of the car consumers surveyed recognized the Five Hundred as a Ford vehicle while nearly 80 percent knew a Taurus was made by the Blue Oval.
"It's the third most recognized nameplate at Ford," Codina said. "Taurus has huge equity. But we realize that there is some baggage with the name that we have to clean up." Over the past few years, Ford relegated the old Taurus to rental car fleets, lowering its resale value and hurting the car's image, he said.
Ford has no intention of flooding the rental market with the new sedan, he added.
It's not just a name change
The new Taurus is not merely a Five Hundred by another name. It will have a new front end and a new powertrain: a 263-horsepower 3.5-liter V-6 with a six-speed automatic transmission. Ford said it has made more than 500 changes to the vehicle, addressing many of the perceived shortcomings of the Five Hundred.
Recent endorsements from J.D. Power and Associates and Consumer Reports, as well as top safety ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, have given Ford and the Taurus campaign a lot more swagger.
"I think there is a new air of confidence, and we're standing tall with this vehicle," Engle said. "When the Five Hundred came out, we had the tagline 'Elevating the sedan,' and now we have 'Safest full-size car in America.' You tell me which is stronger?"
The new Taurus needs a strong showing to be competitive in the same market where the Five Hundred floundered. Through May, Five Hundred sales are down nearly 30 percent compared to last year.
"To be a player, you have to be in this segment," Libby said. "What we've seen, to get a domestic model on the shopping list, it's not enough to be competitive, but offer over and above."
But the Taurus name could get some people to take a look, Libby added.
Which is what Ford intends.
"All we want is people to judge us on our own merits," Engle said. "I know this car will do better."
You can reach Scott Burgess at (313) 223-3217 or
[email protected].
