Ford and Dodge Plan HUGE November Advertising Blitz

With the new 2009 Ram and the new 2009 F150 launching at roughly the same time, it’s fair to expect a pretty healthy advertising blitz. However, considering just how important these two vehicles are to their respective manufacturers, it’s fair to say that November 2008 might just be the biggest new truck advertising month ever.

Here’s the advertising plan for the new Ram:

1. Hire the director of the hit movies Top Gun, Days of Thunder, and Crimson Tide (among others) to produce some awesome ads.
2. Buy 1.3 BILLION INTERNET AD IMPRESSIONS on election day (Nov. 4th) and blanket all the major websites (like MSN.com, Yahoo.com, CNN.com, etc.) with ads about your new truck. Since people are going to be checking online for election returns all day, the chances are good your ads will get noticed. This aspect of the campaign alone could cost as much as $100 million.
3. Hope that this ad blitz is enough to sell out all of your remaining 2008 Ram inventory as well as get the new 2009 Rams moving.
4. Pat yourself on the back for a very clever strategy OR, if it fails, get your bankruptcy paperwork in order.

Here are some previews of the Ram Challenge commercials:

Critics have chastised cash-poor Chrysler for spending so much money to promote the new Ram, but the company has said that this strategy was set in motion more than a year ago (and it’s too late to get the money back). So they’re going to have to hope for the best. Risky strategy, but fortune often favors the bold.

Here’ the advertising plan for the new F150:

1. Sales training. Lots of sales training. Fly-salespeople-to-Dearborn-and-indoctrinate-them-like-some-sort-of-creepy-cult-sales-training.
2. Emphasize the “SFE F150” that we sort of completely lambasted a few days ago.
3. More sales training.
4. Draw more attention to the F150’s commercial abilities and work-truck heritage while stepping away from the premium truck image they have cultivated.
5. Did we mention sales training?

We’re not sure why Ford is stepping away from the premium image – the King Ranch F150 is easily the nicest interior available in a truck – but perhaps the Tundra ad campaign commercials had something to do with it. Still, you’ve got to admire Ford’s belief that their dealership sales people can make the difference. IF people visit their local Ford dealer to look at the new F150, the salesperson might just be able to convince them to buy.

These are exciting times in the world of new trucks for sure.