Some people blame Jim Farley, Ford Motor's sales and marketing chief, who joined Ford one year ago. On the other hand, Farley states that slow sales are the result of the global recession which already reduced demand in most markets.
According to figures provided by The Detroit News, Ford Flex, which came out this summer, sales about 2,000 units per month which means approximately 24,000 vehicles in 12 months. Farley estimated total sales of 100,000 units for the first year of availability, so such a low number does nothing more than to raise questions about the advertising campaign closely supervised by Ford's marketing chief.
Ford hired a music video producer to create the Flex advertisements, the aforementioned source added, which again, brings up the question if this was the proper campaign for a model like Flex. "We did not want to limit the Flex. We did not want to say, 'It is for people like this,'" Usha Raghavachari, Ford's crossover marketing manager, told The Detroit News.
As mentioned, Farley blamed the global economic crisis, but admitted he already had a meeting with the Ford board to discuss about the slow sales of the new model. Although Farley explained that the main reason for the overall sales is actually the global recession, he also pointed that his main intention was to bring a new segment of buyers, rather than to keep the ones already attracted by the Ford brand.
"Our strategy was to use this to conquest people. That's the reason why the ads are more progressive. And it's working,” Farley explained.
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