Price Sells Downright Proud Anniversary Cars…

August 18, 2010 in Advertising, Branding, Creative and Design, Des Moines, Iowa, Marketing, Social Media, Traditional Media
Tags: Advertising, Charles Gabus Ford, Dewey Ford, Marketing, messaging, print, radio, Stivers Ford, tv

I’m going to have to pick on Stivers Ford during this post. I’ve been to their locations and have always been treated well and had a pleasant experience. Unfortunately for Stivers, that experience doesn’t translate in their marketing messaging.

Worse yet, Stivers has so many messages in their marketing efforts it’s hard to know what the consumer should believe is the most important.

Stick with me on this…

1. You’ve heard the radio spot, right? You know the guy with the good ol’ boy rhaspy voice that sings “I’m downright proud to drive a Stiver Ford.” My kids and I laugh and try to imitate the voice “Ooooooh…” and “It’s a Ford!” Here’s the spot. It’s memorable, clearly, and if the rest of their messaging was about being a “PROUD FORD OWNER” it’d probably work better.

2. They are celebrating a 30 year anniversary. That’s great, but it doesn’t mean anything to the customer. Sure, I think it’s great they’ve been in business that long. That’s commendable. But what does turning 30 mean for the customer? I turned 36 years old this year. My wife and kids cared. Make it mean something to someone other than Mr. Stiver.

3. They are on the “Waukee side of West Des Moines.” Probably the best thing they say, cause I know where to find them. But I think they still have a Merle Hay Road location. Do they? They do, but it’s confusing. Please don’t confuse the customer, they can easily drive somewhere else.

4. Price sells cars – they even have the URL: PriceSellsFords - NOT Stivers.com or StiversFord.com, they’ve got www.PriceSellsFords.com.  They even say, “Where Price Sells Cars! Period.” They’ve been saying this for a while, and while it’s recognizable, I still cringe at the thought of the negotiating process ahead of me. Price doesn’t sell cars, some guy trying to make commission and sell me a warranty plan sells cars. Period.

5. Current print add claims they are the used car super store and that their service department is open till midnight! They are also offering 0% financing for 66 months* (although, you’ll need to read the fine print yourself.)

6. They claim to be Iowa’s #1 Ford & Mercury Dealer. What about Charles Gabus Ford? What about Dewey Ford? Claims like these can rarely be backed up and often lead to lawsuits. Better to stay away from that.

7. They are on Twitter, telling you about all of these things. And while they seem pretty active on Twitter, there isn’t a single retweet or reply. So, Twitter is being used as a fax machine for marketing spam.

8. You can see some of their Proud TV spots on their Web site (scroll down on the right hand side).

That’s eight different messages!

So, now that you’ve seen and heard the Stivers marketing message, what stands out to you? What do you take away from all of this? Guessing, you came up with something about them selling cars. Great. Lots of people do that and the name Stivers Ford makes it pretty obvious they sell cars. What else did you come away with? What’s the most important thing about Stivers?

I couldn’t remember either.

I’m glad Stivers is out there spending money on marketing and they seem to be doing a great job of reaching people through multiple mediums. The problem is they are trying to do too much. Too many messages. Too many bullet points. When the message is “Price Sells Downright Proud Anniversary Cars #1 Waukee Side Service Follow Us on Twitter Superstore” the message is lost.

What are your thoughts?

Author: Josh Fleming
www.lessingflynn.com