Automobile Marketing Dynamics

Introduction

According to Alon et al (2016), the core constituent of the current consumerism based societal preferences concerning product preference development is directly related with the effect of properly and strikingly demonstrating the product offerings by the corporate organisations. One of the most significant industrial sectors, from the global perspective, could be identified as the automobile sector and the necessity of marketing management has not been lost on the global operatives of this sector since the hypercompetitive scenario of current market conditions have outlined the necessity to institute drastic changes in the modes and methods of marketing operations undertaken by the leading manufacturers of automobiles. In this context, the corresponding study has selected the Ford Motor Company as a pertinent case study for evaluation of the differential aspects of marketing processes and concepts which the company under consideration have been utilising in the current market conditions to achieve the intended business objectives. Furthermore, the study evaluation would be concentrating upon the utilisation of the marketing mix concepts by the company selected along with the product differentiation element which has been applied by the Ford Motors for the purpose of attaining competitive advantage over the market rival automobile manufacturers such as Vauxhall, Peugeot, Renault, Volvo, BMW, Volkswagen, Toyota Motor Corporation, Chrysler Groups LLC and The General Motors Company.

Company overview

The Ford Company was established in the year 1903, on June 16th, by Henry Ford and currently operates from the Dearborn, Michigan, Detroit, USA. It is one of the leading global automobile manufacturing organisations in the world (fifth in terms of position based on net revenue income) and is the second largest company of the American automobile manufacturing industry currently. The company manufactures and sells automobiles as well as commercial and sports utility vehicles through the utilisation of the global brand image of Ford Motors and through the application of the heritage value of the long tradition of motor vehicle manufacturing by the company under consideration. Apart from these, the automobile manufacturer as well provides luxury vehicles under the brand identity of Lincoln. Currently, according to the research of Bell, Breen and Kellogg (2019), Ford Motors also owns the Brazilian leading manufacturing organisation Troller which produces Sports Utility Vehicles and the company also has a 32% stake in the Chinese automobile manufacturing organisation of Jiangling Motors. The company under consideration further holds an 8% share at the United Kingdom based automobile manufacturing giant Aston Martin. Further examples of the corporate functionalities of the Ford Motors involve joint ventures with Changan Ford at China and with Ford Lio Ho at Taiwan. The company also has joint venture undertakings with companies at Thailand (Auto Alliance Thailand), Turkey (Ford Otosan) and at Russia (Ford Sollers). The company currently employs 199000 personnel as of the financial year 2018-19 in 68 manufacturing and production plants globallly and has a net income estimate of $ 3.67 billion along with an operating income of $ 3.27 billion.

The Marketing Mix

As per the research observations of Bloomfield (2017), the current context of marketing implications have prompted the leading corporate organisations of the automobile manufacturing industry such as the Ford Motors Company to undertake concerted operations on the principle of preferential selection. This method is directly associated with the ensuring of market survival and expansion through being the most effective organisation in terms of market analysis and product propagation. The focus is always on the management of the imperatives of the current business environments, at the local, regional and the global market conditions. This involves the successful comprehension, designing, manufacturing and delivery of the products which the customers could prefer to expend their investiture on.

The research of Candelo (2019) has outlined that the marketing mix of Ford Motor Company has been formulated to support the ability of the organisation to establish effective customer connection through application of the approaches devised in the specially calibrated marketing plan of the company. Channon and Jalland (2016) have outlined that the targeted market segment of the company under consideration is extremely varied and encompasses the entire global sphere of the automobile markets. These factors have contributed in the comprehensive development and orientation of the marketing mix of the company. The critical focus is on the development of the capability of the company in terms of international competition management through which the targeted markets in the world could be influenced and a favourable market position could be achieved and sustained for the Ford products. According to Chvala and Johnson (2017), the marketing mix of the organisation enables it to reach the maximised number of customers on the global basis. Primarily, the marketing mix of Ford Motors could be considered to be a set of strategic actions which experience consistent variations and modifications as per the ebbs and flows of the entire global automobile sales industry.

Product Mix

According to Chvala and Johnson (2017), Ford Motor Company is mostly renowned for the extensive array of automobiles which it manufactures including Ford Figo, Ford Endeavour, Ford EcoSport and various other cars and SUVs such as Sedan. Apart from these, the organisation additionally manufactures buses, trucks and tractors and produces spare components for various other manufacturing brands such as Jaguar, Toyota and Landrover. The credit services of Ford are provided by the Ford Motor Credit Company which is subsidiary to the Ford Motors and this organisational service provides finances to the Ford customers. Dess et al (2019) have outlined that the organisation under consideration also provides vehicle leasing facilities to the corporate clientele. Thus, as has been outlined by Gattorna (2017), the combination of all of such services is oriented towards providing Ford the product mix which could effectively assist the company in achievement of the most effective marketing mix involving the offering of a range of differential products and services. These could influence the existing and prospective customers concerning the product and services inventory of the company.

Place of Distribution

The research of Gillespie and Riddle (2015) has highlighted that, Ford Motor Company generally utilises the most obvious venues and places to perform the strategic distribution of the manufactured products and offered services. Hashmi and Biesebroeck (2016) have stated that such elements of the organisational marketing mix profoundly focuses on the value of the locations in terms of ease of access and the reach to the customers which could be achieved through such locations. Regarding the distribution mix of Ford, the places of product distribution included the Dealership outlets, Auto parts stores, websites belonging to the Ford Spare Parts and Products sales portals and the Ford Motor Credit Company. Jetin (2015) has outlined that the dealership based sales outlets are the sources of generating the most extensive sales revenue for the company. The spare parts and other automation components manufactured by the Ford Motors are to be found at various third party stores selling automobile parts and these components could be as well purchased online through the Ford Parts online website. Furthermore, the credit services offered by the company under consideration could be accessed by he interested customers through the financial offerings available at the offices of the Ford Motor Credit Company. Lagrosen (2015) has specified this strategy of Ford Motors as the approach through which multiplicity of facilities owned by the company as well as by the third party could be utilised to facilitate the customers in availing the manufactured products and services of the company.

Promotional Mix

The primary tactics of the Ford Motors in terms of the product promotional mix is to utilise advertising as the principle tool for the product and services promotion and for making the customers, both the existing ones and the prospectus ones, aware about the brand value of such products and services offered by the company. According to Law (2017), the television and online advertisements of the company under consideration are utilised as the most prominent aspects of such an integrated and comprehensive product promotion strategy. In addition to this, the sales agents of Ford Motors utilise the methods of personal sales promotion to persuade the customers at the venues associated with the Ford dealership outlets where direct selling could be undertaken. These channels are mostly identifiable as the authorised dealership service centres and Direst Selling Agents based outlets. The resellers and e-commerce websites are also extensively utilised by the organisation under consideration.

Apart from this, direct selling operations are also undertaken so as to facilitate the corporate clientele by the automobile manufacturer. Link (2018) has discussed about the value of utilising special methods such as providing sales discounts, special offers and trade-ins which Ford Motors consummately undertakes to provide greater impetus to the buyers to access and purchase the products and services of the company. Finally, it could be acknowledged that

Pricing Mix

According to Lung et al (2018) the prices of the Ford products consistently vary as per the dependence on the volatility of the markets. The determination of the appropriate prices for the Ford products is completely reflective of the modification of the marketing mix as per the conditions of the existing market conditions. Nagle and Müller (2017) have highlighted the application of two different pricing strategies by the Ford Motor Company. These are the market oriented strategy of pricing and the premium pricing mechanism implementation. The objective of Ford, in terms of the utilisation of market oriented strategy of pricing is to reflect the market conditions appropriately in the fixed prices of the products after considering the elements of existing demand, perception of the consumers and the competitive pressure from the market rivals. These variable are critical in terms of the manufactured vehicles such as the SUVs, trucks, busses and others. On the other hand, as has been determined by Palmatier and Crecelius (2019), Ford Motors utilises the premium pricing strategy for the specific purposes such as for the promotion of luxury liner vehicles including the brand Lincoln automobile products. Papasolomou, Crowther and Capaldi (2016) have stated the significance of such strategic pricing differentiation methods in the manner of the intention of the Ford management hierarchy to lend support to the marketing management processes of the company to appeal to the different segments of customers and the associated markets.

Differentiation and Competitive advantage

Saridakis and Baltas (2016) have outlined differentiation as the process under which specific products and services could be developed and offered which could have unique qualities to make these differentiable from competing products of the same properties. In case of the products of the Ford Motors, the uniqueness of the entirely new range of manufactured products lies in the differential and more improve fuel efficiency properties, in the application of environmentally friendly vehicles and in the improved aesthetical designing of the luxury cars which the company could offer. In terms of the product differentiation methods applied regarding manufacturing of environmentally friendly vehicles, Ford Motors could field vehicles with engines equipped with eco-boost which could ensure environmental safety, cars with latest technological applications to ensure lesser fuel consumption and safety ensuring transmission systems which could effectively control the vehicles at high and low speeds. The safety measures included in the Ford manufactured branded cars such as the Flex, Escape, Lincon MKS and Mercury Mariner include the roll stability and break support radars, active park assistant and digital navigation devices so as to make such branded products more convenient and appealing form the perspective of safety to the customers. Finally, Ford Motor Company has been engaged in the process of transforming the manufactured vehicles in terms of the complete removal of the fossil fuel driven engines and substituting those with the advanced form of battery powered ones to ensure the application of complete electrification program of the manufactured vehicles.

As has been outlined by Shalender and Singh (2015), competitive advantage achievement through utilisation of effective marketing strategies borders on the projection of the core competencies of any such organisation such as the Ford Motor Company. The emphasis is on the meeting of all of the necessities of the targeted market segments. The competitive advantages of the Ford Motors involve the phenomenal brand identity of the Ford Motors Automobile manufacturing company which is considered to be one of the leading brand names on the global scale. According to Shein and Bell (2017), Ford Motors could admit an extensive measure of customer loyalty concerning the sales value of the manufactured products and offered services. All of the brands, including the Lincoln ones, belonging to Ford Motors have been experiencing consistent benefits of favourable reputation of the Ford company in terms of the quality of products and services as well as the considerable variety of services and types of vehicles which the company has been providing to the customers, both to the individual and industrial alike.

Apart from these, there are other competitive advantageous aspects related with the products and marketing processes of the automobile manufacturer under consideration. These involve the intellectual properties of Ford, the stronghold of the manufacturing base at the developed nations and large numbers of manufacturing units at the disposal of the company under consideration. Su, Young and Zierke (2016) have observed that the Ford Motors Company has more than 38000 active patented products and technologies which could enable the company with enough quality maintenance and innovative capabilities which could prove to be vital in terms of the future progression of the organisation in the marketing and product propagation domain management. Such extensive intellectual properties could as well ensure that Ford Motors could sustain an effective advantage technologically within the current global market scenario over the competing automobile manufacturers. Apart from this, the product portfolio of Ford is extensive in terms of the product service offerings in the developed countries and such product portfolio has been an effective source for Ford Motors of gaining in-depth knowledge and information about the ebbs and flows of the markets in those countries. One considerable advantage, in terms of the management of the product manufacturing costs and distribution expenses has been the strategy to lease the direct sales and distribution outlets to the third parties so that the distribution costs could be managed and kept to a minimum. This has been reinforced with the property of having 68 manufacturing plants worldwide which has so far been a considerable help for Ford Motors to keep the manufacturing and shipment costs of the products and their components to the minimum in comparison to the other peer companies operating in the same market conditions.

Commoditisation and Total Product & Solution Offering

The offering of complete product and service solutions under the auspices of the commoditisation of the brand identity of the products belonging to the company under consideration could be considered to be the process through which Ford Motors could develop greater competitive advantages in the market. Such a process could formulate greater suitability of the existing products as per the preferences of the customers belonging to such a market segment. As such, Svensson et al (2018), Ford Motor Company has considerably invested in the overall efficiency management of the vehicles to improve the fuel efficiency of such cars. This solution offering to the existing problems of rising fuel costs could lead to the achievement of the greater balance of product development performance and the sales prospect generation in the smaller vehicles market on the global scenario. The net result is the positive brand image enhancement and achievement of competitive advantage by the company under consideration at hitherto unchartered market segments as well.

Segmentation

Vargas-Sánchez (2017) has stressed that Ford Motors has to comprehensively undertake identification of similarity of market characteristics to outline the implications of development of specific strands of marketing strategies. Therefore, for the Ford Motors, proper segmentation lies at the centre of effective strategic marketing as this constitutes the basis on which the entire concept of marketing and strategy development by the marketers of Ford Motors could be developed. This this becomes vital in terms of management of customer preferences by the Ford Motors. Apart from these, the variables associated with the segmentation processes utilised at the Ford Motors involve the Geographic, Demographic, Psychographic and Behavioural segmentation. According to Wang, Nguyen and Nguyen (2015), the marketing efforts involved in the promotion of the latest model of the Ford FIESTA has utilised the Demographic Variables involving income, age and gender based profiles. The focus has been so for the reason of the targeted customer groups which are comprised of the personnel of the average income groups, the young populace and ladies. Apart from this, the Ford FIESTA has marketing campaign has been utilising the Behaviourist Variables as well so as to capitalise on the supposed benefits of fuel efficiency and latest safety measures application.

Experiential Marketing, Customer Relations and Experience Management

In terms of the experiential marketing processes undertaken by Ford Motors, the best possible example could be drawn from the 2017 North American International Auto Show. This had taken pace at Detroit and the exhibits presented by the Ford Motors Company had provided the attendees with a specifically designed augmented reality based experience. This had provided new experience concerning the available technology and the utilisation of the same in the overall product offerings of Ford Motors. This involved a simulated projection under the hoods of the Ford Motors manufactured vehicles which resembled beams of X-rays and the viewers did not require any headset to observe this display. The augmented reality provided a specific experience to all of the viewers where the entire sets of vehicles such as the Ford GT, the F-150 pickup truck and the EcoSport SUV could be comprehended to be transparent since the features which had been kept concealed underneath the metallic exteriors of such vehicles could be observed from inside.

According to Wang, Nguyen and Wang (2016), consumer experience management on part of the Ford Motor Company could be exemplified through the joint venture with the House Party for the promotion of Ford Motors products in the manner which could provide the most realistic experience to the consumers regarding the brand identities of Ford Motors. This event had been termed as the Big Drive which had been an instance of experiential marketing. House Party had selected a particular number of customers of products of the Ford Motors through studying their online purchases and had invited them to be the hosts of parties which the company under consideration assisted in organising. Moreover, upto 1100 parties had been organised throughout the duration of the Big Drive. Through such an effort, Ford Motors had attempted to provide the people who did not previously had the experience of owning a branded product of Ford Motors to have the opportunity to gain experience of the value of such branded cars.

Use of Internet in Marketing

The collection of the vehicles and other products are demonstrated by the website for marketing of products of Fords Motors consummately and in an interactive manner. The vehicle configurator option provides the features of the cars comprehensively to the customer and the customers could observe their selected cars with all of the inherent options of choice. This is oriented towards enabling the customers to research about and then finalise the purchase of their preferred cars. Furthermore, the product development history and the price structure as well as the information on the current promotion based events are also provided through the online purchase portals listed on the official Ford Motors website.

Pricing and Cost Structure

It is always the most necessary component to formulate a marketing strategy for any new product to set the base price first. This is indicative of the most fundamental of decisions during the development of the marketing mix. The related pricing strategy and the cost structures of the Ford Motor Company include dual modes of price setting which could be understood as the strategic approach of price skimming and penetration price establishment within the targeted marked segments. The price skimming method involves the highest possible prices which could be affordable for the willing customers for purchasing the products and service of the company under consideration. On the other hand, the penetration pricing is associated with the penetration of any market segment to establish a firm customer base on which the future propagation of the products and services of the company could materialise. Zimmerman and Blythe (2017), has outlined the example of the Ford FIESTA which has been developed with the marketing prospects of technological novelties such as safety ensuring air bags and provisioning of crash test ratings which could be projected as qualitative elements through product differentiation methods.

Branding

Primarily, the entire purpose of branding undertaking, on part of the Ford Motors, is to effectively offer the valued benefits to the deserving consumers. This has been often considered as manufacturing of customer preferences through utilisation of specific benefit provisioning strategies. Lagrosen (2015) observed that benefits earned or received from a particular brand of vehicles could enable the concerned automobile manufacturer to better forecast the sales enhancement regarding such a particular branded product. This is also reflective of the necessity to understand the psychology of the particular market segment based customers since different consumer segments could seek particular benefits from different products of Ford Motors. This is especially a case with the customers of the motor vehicles industry since there are three specific profiles under which most of the owners of the Ford Motors vehicles could be categorised. These are the Pleasure Seekers, the Functionality Seekers and the Image Seekers.

Conclusion

In the course of this academic evaluation, the factors of commoditisation of the complete products and service solution based offerings of the Ford Motors have been delved into and market segmentation and placement of products have been assessed. Further, the evaluative focus has been also concentrated on the experiential marketing process through which the customer relationship management and utilisation of the Internet based product marketing propagation have been discussed. Ultimately, the product cost structure management and the branding policies put to utilisation by the company under consideration have been appraised.

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