FORD – Swap your Drive…!!??

I liked what I saw today in one of the papers:

This is a new Campaign by FORD INDIA to convert existing car users of competing brands to BUY FORD CARS after swapping their existing cars for a FORD car for a week!

My personal view:

– I LOVED the idea. I mean there is a BIG BIG difference between test driving a car for 20 minutes and owning it for A WEEK to REALLY GET A FEEL for the car. The time allows drivers to test the car in different places, time of day and get their wives, kids and probably dogs and pets to enjoy the car in relaxed way. Most importantly their drivers also!

– Its so different as a campaign as compared to showing me some stuffed Turkey looking Car that screams BUY ME and then casually mentions the ‘Test Drive’ options as statutory text.

– I really LIKED REAL WORLD people featured and their comments. It was BOLD to show which car they owned and hence subtly undermined the competition. Made the ad natural – not artificial.

HOWEVER:

The ad was NOT CLEAR IN telling me:

– What do I do with my normal car? Will FORD take it over?

– Will FORD SWAP MY EMI’s!!??? That will be really cool!

The REAL KICKSTARTER would be to make me ABANDON MY CAR in the middle of the cycle of owning it – so lets assume I own a car for 4 years and look for a replacement in the 5th year – rather this campaign and option should make me BUY A FORD IN THE 2.5th year!!

Ford is not a brand that comes to my mind when I wanna buy a car (except the Endeavour) So, can I Just KEEP the Endeavour for a week (and hence NOT SWAP a Car in Return)?

To make me BUY A FORD this SWAP IDEA should be really DISRUPTIVE!

The process could be:

– Come to showroom

– Swap car

– Like Car? Then Keep car

– Swap EMI 

– Swap downpayment (cost of downpayment less sale of old car)

Finally – won’t this work WONDERS for People RENTING CARS in Cities in just introducing them to FORD while they are away from home. I’m guessing that since Ford does this Swap Business for FREE, travelers would lap it up!!!??

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